Guest Blogger - Hidesy

Hi! I'm Rinelle's sister Hidesy :) Since I was taking a photo of all the toys I recently bought second hand Rinelle suggested that I do a guest post and show them off :) I went to about 4-5 different second hand shops around Brisbane, and found all of these. I had a budget of $50 to spend on toys (in theory our weekly budget for "stuff for Miranda (DD)" so I thought I'd see what I could get. I wanted quality stuff or I could have bought a lot more probably - but I didn't want things that were broken or pointless - I wanted things that could be interesting and would help her. Of course now I realise that I left Pinky out of the picture - a bit unforgivable as it's her favourite ;) It's a little pink stuffed Giraffe. So here's what I got for $48.50 in the end. It took a bit to get them all clean, but I think it was worth it :)

Ebay Bargain!

DH and I bought this old blue couch back when we were newly married, meaning it is 7 years old now! It's served us faithfully, and moved with us twice. Unfortunately, while it was a great size for two, now that there are three of us, it's getting very squishy.

So it was well and truly time for a new couch. DH and I fell in love with the couch with chaise style after using one at a holiday apartment we stayed in, but until we re-arranged our living room a few weeks ago, we just couldn't find out that would fit in the space we have. A few weeks ago, we decided to take the plunge and get rid of the TV.

No, we're not really TV less. We haven't had commercial TV for more than 12 months now, but we do still watch out selected DVD's. Which, of course, can be watched just as easily on our computer! Our 19 inch monitor was just a little too small though, so we now have a 27 inch. This saves lots of space, and power as well I would imagine, since we no longer run the old CRT screen TV or the DVD player.

Anyway, once that was done, the hunt was on for a new couch. We looked around all the furniture stores (online and in person), and found several (seems to be a popular style right now), but nearly all of them were synthetic, which is something I'm trying to avoid these days. Ikea had lovely lounges, and as a bonus, the covers are completely removable so that you can wash them. Seemed ideal. Except that on closer inspection, only the WHITE covers were actually machine washable, the others were all dry clean only. This was enough to put us off for a while, until I hit upon the concept of dying the covers!

We probably would have gone straight to Ikea to get one, except they had none in stock. (And, of course, Ikea is a 2 hour drive away!) Thus instead, I have been searching EBay daily (you can have new items matching your search criteria e-mailed to you daily), until last week I spotted the EXACT couch I wanted. Bidding was steep, but with dint of much refreshing and last minute bidding, I am now the proud owner of a genuine Ikea couch, at exactly half the retail price!

As you can see, it's in great condition, only 6 months old. The white cover has a few minor discolourations (much of which was probably due to DD jumping up and down on the cushions pretending they were islands), which will undoubtedly be covered when we dye them. Currently, it's covered in sheets, as the owners had dogs, which DH is mildly allergic to. Hopefully we'll get the covers washed and dyed next weekend.

I'm so glad that we managed to find exactly the couch we wanted, at such a great price, and much closer than Ikea! Buying second hand has many advantages, as well as being more eco friendly in that items are reused rather than being thrown out. (In case you're wondering, our old couch now lives up in the garage, for use when DH is up there working.)

Right now though, I'm off to research eco friendly dying!

Financial Goals

Lately DH and I have been giving quite a lot of thought to our financial situation. I've written previously that our goal is for DH to be able to work part time, and hopefully retire very early, but so far aside from dreaming, we've made very little effort to achieve this goal.

I've been reading many blogs lately about people who have begun to make moves towards changing their situation. People who are working to pay off their mortgages, and live life the way they want to instead of being ruled by their debts, and they are inspiring. I think we can do it too. No, it won't happen tomorrow. In fact, it will be years away. But we certainly can't start any sooner.

Our first goal is to finish paying off our credit card. We hope to have this done by the end of March. Until it's paid off, we're going to continue with our Nothing New policy as much as we are able to. I'm mending our sheets yet again because I don't want to have to buy a new set. (And I refuse to buy cheap ones, I have a particular set in mind, and am waiting until we have the SPARE cash to afford them.) We're attempting to intersperse our normally meat heavy meals with cheaper ones, like the scrambled eggs we had tonight, (Can't get any cheaper than that, eggs laid by our own chooks, on toast cooked here at home), fried rice, and pasta. The increasing amount of produce we're getting from our own garden, as well as making everything we can at home (from materials we already have where possible!), helps as well. Really, there is very little we will need to buy over the next few months. (Except the previously mentioned bookshelves and new lounge if they are available, though in reality they aren't needs, but wants.)

Once the credit card is paid off, our next step is to build up an emergency fund of $1000. As any budgeting gurus will tell you, if you lack an emergency fund, you will simply rack up your credit card again when the unexpected happens. We now have a second mortgage offset account (off our construction loan), where the emergency fund will be separate from our day to day money, while still offsetting the interest on our mortgage. We hope to have this done by the end of June.

After the initial emergency fund is secure, we will increase our payments on the home loan by $100 a fortnight. Not much, and should be easy to do without many changes to our current budget, but from the few calculations I've done, it should reduce the repayments on our home loan nearly in half, and save us scads of interest! While we're doing this, we will continue to add any extra money, bonus payments etc, into the emergency fund until it's at about $5000. Hopefully we should achieve this by the end of the year.

Then, all going well, any extra money we get will go straight into the home loan. If we can pay off this one loan (the smaller, and at a higher interest rate), it will halve our repayments, and would allow DH to work part time if he chooses, or allow us to pay off the second loan (on the land) in half the time.

In order to help us keep track of our goals and progress, I've set up a budget in Microsoft Money (which we already had!) We've used this with great success previously, only falling behind when DD was little, and we couldn't find the time to keep it updated. Hopefully it will work just as well for us this time!

We're Rich!

No, we haven't won the lotto, or found some hidden pirate treasure. In fact, we have exactly the same amount of money that we had yesterday. It's just that I stopped, for a moment, thinking of all the things we can't afford, and realised what we can.

We have the money to pay for DD's unexpected dental costs without a struggle.

We have enough to buy food, petrol and other necessities without having to count pennies.

We have enough for luxury items, like a nice TV, nice furniture, and new items to replace those that break.

We have enough to buy nice material for clothes.

We have enough to spend the odd $100 at Spotlight on purely decorator items, without feeling (too) guilty.

We have more than enough to buy most things we want, comfortably, and most importantly, without going into debt. (Though we're still paying off the debt from the days before we realised this, nearly there now.) Sure, there are things we would like that we can't afford. But show me a person, no matter how well off they are, that doesn't? (OK, maybe Bill Gates doesn't have to consider the bank balance, but otherwise...) Yes, the cost of the 'wants but can't affords' goes up, but they are still there, no matter how much money you make.

The trick is to realise when you have 'enough', and be happy with it.

Op-Shop Bargains and another Nothing New Month

I've been re-visiting a lot of the local op-shops (thrift stores for those in the US) lately, and found some real bargains. Like the cushion inserts above, at $3 each. Sure, I've seen cushion inserts in stores for $3 each, but not this size, these are about 20 inches square. Perfect for DD's reading corner. The white object folded up on the bottom is actually a thin, cotton quilt, in perfect condition, it was $7. The folded up flannel sheets were $1.50 each because they had slight marks/not in top condition, which is not going to matter once I cut them up for hankies!

Then in another op-shop (where I went to buy zippers for covers for the new cushions, which incidentally I found for 20 cents each), I found these shirts on the $1 rack. Perfect for cutting up to make some smaller shirts for DD.

I love finding bargains at the op-shops. It feels so good to not only get something cheaply, but to know that I'm recycling in the real meaning of the word. These objects, which would otherwise be thrown out, are being used again. And when I'm finished with them, they'll be passed back to be used again. We waste so much in our world, it feels good to stop even a little of that.

However, despite finding bargains and some great deals, I think I've been going a bit overboard on the buying. Things are piling up, and we need some more cleaning and organising going on here. I have more material than I have time to sew, and more things than I have places to put them. So DH and I have decided to have another Nothing New month this month. Yes, I know we're already into February, and to make it neat I should wait until March, but when the mood hits you, it's best to start while you're motivated.

The exceptions to the Nothing New will be a particular set of bookshelves, or a particular couch, if they come up second hand this month.

New Year, New Enthusiasm.

Regular readers may have noticed that this blog has been rather quiet through November/December. In part, this was due to the fact that these have been very busy months for our family. November was taken up with writing, December with frantic Christmas preparations. On top of that, the weather has been hot, hot and more hot, with lots of rain thrown into the mix. Very little chance for gardening, for even if we braved the heat to plant, what is going to grow in this weather? (Other than the watermelons, which are doing great!)

And now, here we are in 2009, wondering what we are going to do this year. Well, we are hoping for some lifestyle changes, mainly in the form of a new job for DH. Closer to home would be great, but is unlikely due to the lack of jobs in his field nearby. Mainly though, we are hoping for some more regular hours, less stress, and hopefully a bit more flexibility.

DH and I have been talking too, and are looking at ways to further reduce our expenses on the basis that saving $100 is worth more than making an extra $100. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, think on it. For starters, of the $100 extra you make, a large percentage is immediately gone in tax. Not to mention the GST you're not paying simply by not buying something.

With this in mind, it will be back to making, mending and growing this year. I'm itching for the weather to cool down enough to plant something, but think I'll realistically have to wait until mid February at least. In the meantime though, there are some fruit trees that still need to be planted out (from before November!), mowing to do, fruit trees to mulch etc etc, so plenty to keep me busy. On the sewing front, I'm finally getting around to finishing those t-shirts for DD, making more shopping bags (and I've just had the brainwave to recycle my old green bags, which are more than a little the worse for wear, into stiffening in various projects), some swimming togs for DD (from second hand swimming tops), and no doubt many other things. I need to get back into preserving, before all this wonderful summer fruit is done for the year, including cooking up all the tomatoes that are languishing in my freezer (cooked up one lot last night though, and they were delish!). I need to cook more from scratch, and start figuring out how to use all this garden produce. I also have lots and lots of wool that needs to be spun ready for the winter knitting frenzy.

On the financial front, hopefully we'll have more no-spend months, do some budgeting maybe, and hopefully, 2009 will be the year that we pay off the credit card for good. We've paid it off before, but it is only this time, through dint of paying it off bit by bit the slow hard way, that we have actually changed our spending habits enough to know we are not going to run it straight back up again. Then we can work on saving, and beginning paying extra on the home loan. Exciting stuff.

I also need to get working on organising the house, decluttering, making curtains for the windows, rugs for the floors, that sort of thing.

And last, but not least, I have to get a plan in place for DD's first official year of homeschooling. She is due to start prep this year, which is not compulsory in Queensland, so we will be running our own program (at this stage), including lots of getting out and joining groups, excursions, and other fun stuff.

So stay tuned for a hopefully action packed 2009!

Nothing New November - Conclusions

Well, November was certainly a hectic month. I probably could have chosen a better time for my Nothing New challenge, seeing as I was completing NaNoWriMo at the same time, but then again, perhaps the lack of trips to the shops helped in that regard too!

So, I guess what everyone is wondering is, how did we go? Did we manage to get through the whole month without buying (or swapping or accepting) anything new? The answer, of course, is no, but I still feel that we've done pretty well. So onto the exceptions first, then I'll summarise what I feel we learnt from this challenge.

Well, I don't really count this one as an exception, since we had booked it before November, had the money put aside for it, and it was a non-negotiable essential given how badly our gutters overflow every time it rains, but we had someone come out and install gutter guard in November. It's brilliant. No more climbing up on the roof to clean out the gutters every week, or having water going everywhere because they're overflowing. And the roof looks heaps better because all the leaves/sticks are washing right off rather than gathering in the guttering and looking untidy.

And this one, I make no excuses for what so ever. I was at the markets getting our weekly fruit, and saw a stall with lots of old kitchenware, and thought "they wouldn't have....?" and they did, so I couldn't leave it there, even though it was $12! It's a very old bread knife like the ones we had when I was growing up. They just don't make ones like these, or anything like them anymore, and I know, because I have looked. See the metal out the side? That's the cutting guide, which allows you to cut an even and thin slice of bread. I was nearly ready to give up on home made bread simply because I couldn't cut it thin enough to wrap around a sausage, but not anymore. Now I can cut it perfect, every time. Well worth $12. When I mentioned it to my sister, she wanted to know if they had another one!

And finally, one of DH's workmates was wanting to get rid of this guitar, so DH bought it off him for $10. A bargain we couldn't pass up. DD loves it, and I think it's pretty cool too. I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar.

I'm afraid that I also fell down on my decuttering challenge of getting rid of 100 things in the month. I mean, in terms of actual individual items, which was my original challenge, I probably managed over 100. I've decluttered about half a dozen boxes of toys from DD's playroom, several bags of unwanted clothes, and much more from the rest of the house, but there is still so much to go yet. But I'm still pretty happy with how it went in the scheme of things. I think that trying to do two challenges in one month (three if you count NaNo as well!) was just a little too much!

So that's it. In the month of November we bought only three things other than food or medications. Not bad I don't think. We saved over $500 that we have paid off the credit card, $500 that probably would have otherwise been spent on things that we obviously didn't really need. We didn't feel deprived, didn't even really feel annoyed that we couldn't spend the money. In fact, in some ways it was liberating. No looking carefully through the catalogues that arrive in the mail each week, we just threw them out. No stopping to window shop somewhere, and no deliberating over whether we really wanted something or not. We just avoiding all that hassle.

Sadly, I don't think a month is really long enough to do this sort of challenge properly. There were many things that though we didn't go out and buy, we simply put aside to be bought at the end of the challenge. Like needles for my overlocker. The ones I have aren't ball points (required for sewing stretch, or the material gets damaged), so I couldn't finish sewing the t-shirts I am making for DD. I could, of course, have sewn them on my sewing machine (which has ball point needles, just not the right size for the overlocker), but I was too lazy. So in terms of changing our consumer habits, it wasn't a huge success (although I suspect we will be evaluating things a little more carefully in future), but in terms of saving money, it was definitely good. And for that alone, we'll probably try it again, though not this month!

Gearing up for November

Things could be fairly quite around here for the next month, as most of my writing energy goes towards making my 50,000 word goal as part of NaNoWriMo.



I've made this goal for the last two years, but at that time I wasn't trying to garden or make all these things at the same time. But I will give it a go again regardless.

DH and I have also set ourselves a challenge for this month, we're not going to buy anything other than food and medications for the month. Any money saved will go towards our credit card debt (which was run up with building expenses).

This is more than just a money saving challenge though. Over the last 18 or so months, since we first packed up our unit ready to move, we've lived out of boxes, many of which are still not unpacked, meaning much of the stuff we have either DD has grown out of, or we just plain don't need. We are all feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of STUFF in our house (not to mention still in the garage!), and until it is under control, we don't want to bring anything more into the house. So this isn't just about money and spending, it's about not bringing anything new into the house full stop. Not from any source.

And as if that wasn't enough for one month, we're going to try to get rid of existing clutter. I'm hoping we can get at least 100 items OUT OF THE HOUSE (or shed). That's a little over 3 items a day. Think we can do it? I reckon we can.

So expect a lot of posts about how we've resisted bringing new things into the house (and hopefully found some creative and innovative solutions to anything that we are lacking), and updates on how many items we've gotten rid of. And, of course, some updates on my word count.

Rainy Day Fun

After watching the skies for any sign of moisture for the last few weeks (and seeing lots of grey, overcast days, but no rain), we woke up this morning to showers, which have settled into a nice steady rain throughout the day, which is doing a good job of filling our tanks, as you can see. Just in time too, because our automatic water switch pump switched us to mains water just yesterday. Of course, I went straight out and changed the level of the sensor so that we were still running on tank water. There were still 3 rungs of water left, which on our tank is around 2500L. That would have lasted us a few more weeks probably, although thankfully now we won't have to test that theory.

While it was filling our tanks, it was also backing up around the lower part of the house at the back. This is the view from the back door. Even the stepping stones were under water! Seems like we might have to do something about this area sooner rather than later.

It wasn't just our area that was flooded though, this was the roadside drain out our front gate. And it wasn't even raining that heavily! I think the problem is that when they dug under the road to connect our mains water, they didn't go deeply enough through this area, and it creates a bit of a blockage in the drain. It goes down just as quickly as it comes up though, and has never so far actually gone across our driveway.

DD didn't seem to mind though and was asking me all day "Can I go out and play in the rain?" I finally let her right before bath time, and she had a ball.

Luckily we had plenty to keep us occupied other than splashing in puddles all day. Last night we made the pilgrimage down to Ikea. I say pilgrimage because it is about 90 minutes each way, although we did break it up with a visit to my sister to ohh and ahh over her baby again. What was I talking about again? Oh yes, Ikea. Long trip. But well worth it. The very cobbled together picture above is DD's playroom. Lots of space, but very little storage space, so usually everything ends up all over the floor in very short order. We planned to do something about it. So after spending about $300 at Ikea, we piled our purchases into the car (I love having a hatchback!), and came home.

DD and I spent the morning putting together her new shelves and table. And of course, a fair bit of cleaning and sorting, with a little bit of shoving into boxes to sort tomorrow thrown in. Looks much better doesn't it? In fact, it almost looks like a room in someone else's house!

This is the area near the window, with a little table (that was actually a coffee table, but is exactly the size I wanted for her) for drawing and eventually schoolwork. The curtains are recycled from an old doona cover that I bought at a garage sale.

And, inspired by Playschool, DD drew these giant dinosaurs on the leftover Ikea packaging. The one on the left is an apatosaurus, and the one on the right is a tyrannosaurus. But he's a friendly tyrannosaurus, that's why he has a smile. It's hard to see unless you click on the picture to get the larger pic, but he actually has little hands complete with claws.

And as if that wasn't enough to do for one day, I got inspired to try dyeing some wool with food colouring. I had about 10 balls of cream wool that I posted about here. Cream is not my favourite colour, not to mention not being practical with a 4yo in the house, and it was really cheap, so I figured I'd give it a go. After searching around the web, I found some instructions here, and got to it. It was pretty simple really. Soak the wool in half vinegar half water for half an hour, dip it in diluted food colouring, then steam for 45 minutes.

Inspired by DD's beautiful rainbow puzzles, I did some in rainbow colours, and am really impressed with how the colours turned out. I think I'm going to use these to crochet a throw for DD's playroom.

Then I got a little creative, and tried some variegated colours. Very citrusy colours, I'm really enjoying these colours lately. Not sure what I'll use these for yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

So that was my day. (And I'm really tired, which is why this last bit of the post is so dull and why I'm waffling so much.) Much better than a rainy day was in the shed, where we all felt wet and closed in. It's amazing how much more room there is in the house, and how much lighter everything feels, even when it's all wet outside.

The Next Level?

As you may or may not have noticed, posts have been few and far between lately. This is both because I haven't been inspired/had time to write, and because I feel that little of what I've been doing has been noteworthy. We've been spending a lot of time organising, or doing little projects and bits and pieces here and there. Though these add up, most of them haven't really been worthy of a blog post. Still, there have been things I haven't written about that I could have, often because I don't have a picture (why do I think every blog post needs a picture?), or are too lazy to go take one. I was half wondering if maybe this blog was coming to a close, something I wasn't too happy about, because I have gained a lot from blogging. I find that writing down what we're doing here keeps me motivated, and helps me to realise what we are achieving, the bits that would otherwise pass unnoticed. It also helps me to think about the greater picture, and where we are going with all of it.

Then last night I had a bit of a revelation. Up until now, just about everything we've been doing, all our energy, had been focused on getting the house built. It's occupied all our thoughts, and most of our spare time, and now it's done.

So I guess to some extent we've had a well deserved rest (if you can call all the moving and organising we've done over the last month 'resting'), and an adjustment period, settling into the new house. And now, we're left wondering what we do now...

Sure, there are plenty of things still waiting on the list, like organising DD's playroom, planning for starting official homeschooling next year, working on the gardens, making curtains etc etc. The list is endless. And that will continue on, and hopefully always will.

But there is another side of this simple living that is starting to gain a bit of a focus in my mind lately. It's no secret to those that know him that DH isn't happy where he works. It's a high stress environment, with little recognition of the effort he puts in, and constant concerns about his job role changing to one he's not happy with. On top of that, with our move to the outskirts of the city, a couple of extra hours a day are lost in travel time. I'm starting to feel that this is the next issue we need to address.

The obvious solution is to find a new job, one where DH is happier, less stressed, and if at all possible, is working closer to home with less travel time. We're working on this now, with DH writing up his resume, and getting ready to apply for a few positions that are coming up.

But this is only a temporary solution. It will improve things, but it isn't what we eventually want as a family. I guess it's my sister's fault. She's shown us a different way of life to the 9-5 slog that most people are a slave to. She's managed to build up a successful portfolio of photos, and earn enough that her husband was able to quit work, and both of them are staying home to care for their new baby. Is there any better way to organise things?

Of course, this has taken her several years, and a LOT of hard work to achieve, and I don't know if I can ever get to that stage (she managed to do this before having children, which was a big benefit), but it does give us something to aim for. Perhaps one day, when we've paid off the mortgage (will that day every come? Seems so far off in these early days), if I can make even a little money from my photographs, and we get our gardens and orchard well enough established to provide a large amount of our food, DH will be able to work part time, and spend a lot more time here at home with DD and I, growing things, caring for the animals, and enjoying life. I think 2 days a week would be good, don't you?

So, along with all our usual things that we're doing and working on, this is probably the larger goal that we're aiming for. Yes, it's a dream at this stage, and perhaps something we will never achieve, but without dreams, where would we be?

Give it up!

That is the latest challenge on Aussie's Living Simply, and I'm doing my best to rise to the occasion. The picture I really need at the top of this post is a picture of a tissue box crossed out, but I don't have one, so you're going to have to do without. Yes, I'm giving up tissues! It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, as with all my allergies, we go through a LOT of tissues. Like a box every few weeks. At $2 a box, that's a few hundred dollars a year! And not to mention a bathroom rubbish bin that is always full of used tissues! The really cincher though was when I found out that tissues have formaldehyde in them! So DD and I are now switching over to hankies! Not a problem for DD, who prefers them anyway, I think because they are less floaty and irritating around her face.

Being me of course, I'm not going to go out and buy hankies, I set about making my own. I didn't have any suitable cotton (although I think old cotton sheets that are past their bed covering days would make lovely tissues, my old ones are all poly cotton from the days before I even looked at those sort of things), I decided to give flannel a go. I made up about 4 a month or so ago, and DD and I have been using them on and of (when they're clean), and found them definitely usable. So no more excuses! I cut up an old baby bunny rug that I found for 50c a the second hand shop, and a piece of flannel left over from my nappy making days, and overlocked the edges. Didn't take too long at all (except for threading back in the overlocker threads, I HATE that bit!)

And here they are! I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, the colours actually look really pretty together, and I think we should have plenty to last us for a week or so if necessary (or if we have a cold!)

I think this challenge is going to be pretty easy!

Craftiness (and musings)

I have run riot on eBay in the last couple of days. Firstly, Jean Greenhowe books! Remember my cute little Easter Bunny? He was made from a pattern designed by Jean Greenhowe. Do a search for her on Google or eBay, and discover many many knitting patterns for lovable scarecrows, dolls or animals, designed to entice you into knitting (usually works for me). That wasn't what I was looking for though. Rarer, but infinitely more valuable as far as I'm concerned, are her sewing patterns. Jean Greenhowe patterns are always easy, usually involve mostly squares or circles to cut, and are so neat, tidy and adorable that they are irresistible.

I can't wait till they arrive so I can get sewing. Or at least look at all of the pretty pictures and dream!

Now that DD is older and I actually get a chance to sew occasionally, I'm really looking forward to making many many of her toys. Along with the bunny, I made her a cloth doll, which she has been carrying around all over the place with her. We've bought her plastic dolls before, thinking she'd enjoy bathing them etc, but she has never really been interested. Yet for some reason, this cloth dolly, definitely not one of my better efforts even, has meant something to her.

Was it the cuddliness of it? The size? Or was it the fact that we made it together, and she got to make the important choices, like what colour hair to give it (dark maroon!), and what colour eyes. Either way, I'm very happy that she appreciates my efforts!

There really is something about making a toy with your own hands. There is a feeling of satisfaction of having taken something rather uninteresting (material, wool, stuffing), and turned it into something that offers hours of imaginative play. Sure, it might not look as neat and tidy as something you buy in the store, but it has a homeliness that money just can't buy.

The more I work towards this simple and self sufficient life, the more satisfaction I find in the things I do every day. Growing our own food, cooking our own snacks, making our own clothes, it all connects you again to what life really is about. In modern society, where we go out to work, and buy everything we need, it is easy to forget what's important. Even more so when your paycheck is banked automatically, with no connection to the work you do other than the electronic signals that transferred it. No recognition of a job well done, or money well earnt, no "Good job" or "Thanks" from the boss, pay day is just another date on the calendar. Chances are that you will pay for your rent/mortgage, bills, groceries, without ever actually seeing the money either.

And as for the food you buy, it is hard to connect it to it's origins either. It comes in a tin, or a bottle, or a plastic packet, no hint that it was every grown in the ground (and maybe it wasn't?). We can go home and chuck it in the microwave and it comes out ready to eat, we don't even need to stir it or watch it, just listen for the beep that tells you it is ready. This might all save time, but it doesn't save money, and it certainly gives you little satisfaction. It doesn't even taste that great.

Now picking tomatoes from your own plants, that you have watched grow from a tiny seed, watered and cared for, waited in anticipation for, taking these and cutting them, cooking them for several hours, checking regularly and stirring lovingly, until you have a delicious, thick spaghetti sauce, now that is real food. And it has the real taste to prove it.

Now, having deviated far from the original topic, a photo of my last eBay purchase.

Now I am definitely going to have some fun with this!

Kitchen Knitting

I've always found knitting quite relaxing. As a child, I used to knit while reading a book, now I often do it while watching TV. This won't work with complicated patterns that require you to count stitches or rows though, as you risk loosing track (although that doesn't always stop me). That is why I like my kitchen knits. This is my replacement for what we always called 'green scratchies' in my house growing. I think some people call them scourers? Anyway, they're the rough scratchy things you use to do the washing up with.

I made this one a week or so ago, and have been using it instead of my scratchie since. It's made from 8 ply acrylic, 20 stitches on size 8 (4mm) needles, and just knitted until it seems the right size. I wasn't sure how it would go, but I've been surprised at how well it works. Although I still sometimes reach for the scratchie for really baked on grime, I suspect I wouldn't even need that if I soaked things. It does a great job of cleaning glasses, plates and cutlery, and is actually more pleasant to use. It doesn't wear away like a scratchie does, isn't hard and unbendable, and best of all, when it gets dirty, I chuck it in the wash and reach for the next one.

I've posted pics previously of my knitted dishcloths, well I have 2 now. The second, knitted in garter stitch, was much closer to a square shape, and I use both often. Again, they're really pleasant to use, feel nice on the hands, and do a good job of wiping down the benches and tables.

Guess I'd better get back to knitting!

Peaches

Yep, I'm really inventive on the titles today!

At the markets on Sunday, peaches were $2 a kg, so I figured this was my last chance to get some preserves before the season was over. DD loves tinned peaches, and while at that price it probably is only a little cheaper to buy them this way, at least I know what she's getting. I bought $10 worth, or about 5kg. That is a LOT of peaches.

Before starting actually cutting up the fruit, I wash all my jars and lids (even if they were already clean, it's best to give them a wash in soapy water, then a rinse in clean). It's always a bit of a guess as to how many bottles of what sizes. This time I just washed ten jars, which was all I had lids for!

Here are the bottles. For once, I remembered to soak the rubber seals, and put them on the jars before I started putting fruit in! Preparation is good, and makes for a much smoother preserving session.

Then I added the sugar syrup to the jars. You don't fill them up, or there won't be any room for the peaches. In fact, I find this much is plenty of syrup, I rarely have to add more after packing the jars.

Then it is time to start cutting the fruit. This is the tedious bit. Thankfully though, these were freestone peaches, so easy to separate from the seed, and because of this made much cleaner slices. They actually look quite artistic, don't they? They were as delicious as the look too. I'm not a huge peach fan, but I couldn't stop eating these. They were the nicest peaches I'd tasted in a long time, sweet and juicy.

Then you do all that boiling and watching, and of course, getting the very hot jars back out of the boiling water (I really do have to buy some bottle tongs!). And then you end up with this...

Eight jars of peaches. The smaller jars in the front are 600ml, the larger ones at the back are 1 litre. That should last DD a little while at least. Maybe a month or two...

Then I made up some labels on the computer, so that I know how long they've been in the cupboard. I just stuck them on with clag glue, hopefully they will come off easily that way.

Then they went into the preserve cupboard with the others. It's lucky I've run out of jar lids, as I'm fast running out of room!

Recipes

Well, the weather has jackknifed from a sweltering 36.5 degrees on Saturday, to a cool 22 degrees today. It's also raining, so I'm feeling quite chilly. I've lost one of my slippers, probably the dog next door thought it looked yummy and ran off with it, so I needed to come up with a solution for cold feet. I went searching for some socks, which helped slightly, but they're very thin, and I can still feel the cold from the cement through them. So I figured I'd knit some!

I did a quick search on the web, but all the patterns I could find were either knitted in the round (which I have no idea how to do, must learn), or or in 4 ply cotton, which is a bit much knitting for me. So I'm currently creating my own pattern. I'm about half way through the first slipper, and so far it seems to be going OK, but it's hard to really tell until it's done. If I can get them to work, I'll post the pattern in the next few days. (And pics of course.) I'm using one of the many many balls of 8 ply acrylic that I have in the shed, courtesy of my grandmother, who used to crochet until her fingers wouldn't do it anymore. Cost to me, nothing!

I haven't posted about this yet, but on Sunday, lemons were 6 for $1, so I bought a dozen, and did up some lemon recipes (I've been waiting for them to get to a nice low price for these). Firstly, I made Rhonda's Lemon Cordial recipe. I'm not a big fan of lemon drinks myself, but DH loves Lift. While this is better than his previous favourite drink, Coke, it's still a little too full of colours and flavours for my taste (not to mention expensive!), so I figured if I could find a substitute, it would be good. Unfortunately he's not a big fan of it. I suspect because it lacks fizz.

Lemon Butter

Next I moved onto Lemon Butter. I used my grandmother's recipe, sent to me by my mum.

1 pound of sugar (2 cups)
1/4 pound of butter (2 tablespoons)
6 eggs
juice and rind of 3 lemons

Add well beaten eggs to the sugar. Add juice and rind of lemons, and butter. Stir gently over slow fire until thick as honey. Great for sandwich spread or tartlet filling.

Now personally, I didn't have a slow fire handy, but it worked quite well on my electric stove. A few hints and tips, firstly, don't put anything on the stove (or fire), until you've juiced and grated all those lemons. I thought I'd do it quickly enough that I could save time and do both at once, but all I ended up doing was burning my butter and eggs. I managed to salvage most of it by transferring to a new saucepan, and pushed on.

With the eggs, make sure you beat them well. I'd suggest an egg beater. I just whisked them with a fork, and ended up with bits of cooked egg white in the lemon butter. If this happens to you, you can strain it out, and as an added plus, this will get rid of any remaining burnt bits as well!

To grate the rind, you use the back of your grater, the one with what looks like little holes punched with a nail from the inside. Grate just the top yellow coating off the lemons, not the white. Apparently (according to my mum), the white is bitter. I didn't try this to find out. I did though, manage to grate some of my thumb. Not good. Lemon juice stings!

However, in spite of all this, it seems to have turned out OK, and I'm really looking forward to trying my lovely lemon but some home made bread. Pity the lot I made that day didn't rise, I suspect due to my beautiful daughter checking on it a bit too enthusiastically.

Chocolate Fudge

Our final job for the day was to make some chocolate fudge! This recipe is my mother's and is a popular one at fetes, and with kids and adults alike. But be warned, it is NOT healthy.

2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons of cocoa
butter for greasing
a few drops of vanilla

Put all ingredients except vanilla into a saucepan and stir over medium heat until it boils. Reduce heat, and boil steadily until thick (5-7 minutes). Remove from heat, add vanilla, and beat till creamy. Pour into greased sweet dish. When partially set, cut into squares.

Hints and tips: If rice milk is substituted for the milk, and nutalex for the butter, this is a great dairy free chocolate substitute. I can't tell the difference taste wise. (And neither could my dad, who is very picky about his chocolate fudge.)

5-7 minutes is an almost exact time. You can check if it is ready by scraping the edge of the saucepan, if the fudge there is gritty, it is ready. If you pour it into the dish and it is sticky and doesn't set, you can put it back on for longer.

Grease your sweet dish before you start. You can't leave the fudge unattended at all. If it burns, the whole lot is ruined.

Our family has used a rectangular Pyrex dish, now know as the 'fudge dish' for this recipe for years. Ownership of this dish has been hotly contested, and luckily we have found extras in second hand shops for everyone. I don't know if they're available new or not, but I haven't seen them anywhere. If you get hold of one, hang onto it!

But best of all, is licking the spoon. After you've poured the fudge into the dish, there will be half set fudge all around the saucepan. (If you don't scrape it out too thoroughly, there is even more!) This is the best bit. Use your wooden spoon to scrape as much as you can onto the spoon. Best eaten just hot enough that it almost (but not quite) burns your tongue.

Enjoy!

A long day

It has been a long day today. First up, up at 5 to drive DH to the train by 6, then DD and I went on to the markets for our fruit shopping. The specials weren't quite as good as they have been the last few weeks, but we did get some nice grapes, and it looks like the apples are coming in. Bought a whole heap of tiny red delicious for DD, figure they're about her size.

Then we came home to rush around doing our morning routine, before heading off to visit my sister before it got too hot. We had a great swim in her pool, and DD was determined to try to 'swim' on her own, which meant bouncing around and needing someone to grab her periodically. I think she had fun though.

The onto my real purpose of the trip, the hobby store. Here I have to say I grossly overspent. Nearly $200 for doors, windows, and a staircase for the dollhouse. I hadn't planned on spending that much. In all honestly, if I had thought about it, I would have realised that these wouldn't be cheap, and might have planned things a little better. I didn't want this dollhouse to be an expensive project, it was supposed to be cheaper than buying a new one! I guess I'm still stuck in wanting to do everything I wanted to do to it as a child, and couldn't afford to. I want it to be beautiful, which I'm sure it will be. And realistically, I couldn't have made those windows myself.

OK, so I've comforted myself by searching on eBay, and they had a similar house to mine, only NOT as good of course, for $400 new. So maybe I'm not doing too badly. Most of the cheaper kids are either much smaller, or simple barbie style houses. So in other words, I probably shouldn't have spent the money, but it wasn't excessive for what I got for it. Really.

On a good note, we had homemade gluten free pizza for dinner, with my homemade tomato sauce, and homemade bottled pineapple (for DH, I prefer just bacon and cheese on mine). DD had some bottled peaches for desert (but before dinner funnily enough).

I'm very very tired now, so I think I'm going to have an early night, and hopefully be more bright and cheery tomorrow.