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!

Painting is Done!

And the doors are hung. Finally got a look inside today after the builders had left, and it's looking nice. Really starting to look like a house now that it's all the one colour! The paint smell is awful though! This is the view from the kitchen, looking down the hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms.

And this is the badly stitched together view in the other direction, looking towards the kitchen. As you can see, I have a good view of DD's cubby from any of the windows in the main living areas. This was definitely planned! Sorry about the quality of the photos, I had to take them with DD's point and shoot, as my lens doesn't have a wide enough angle.

And since they were sitting there, these are the floor tiles for the laundry, bathroom and toilet, a very pretty blue.

I think the wall tiles are white, but I can't remember for sure. This is the accent tiles though, again, blue. Yes, I like blue!

And, since today is the 9th, and the house isn't finished, I guess the expected completion date wasn't worth much! Hopefully in a few weeks...

My First Completed Item

That is, the first item I've made completely from spinning the wool, to knitting it up. These slippers were knitted with the first wool I spun, some very expensive wool from spotlight! About $5 each! Scary. But they are pretty, and DD loves them, and wants to wear them all the time, which is a plus from a child who's statement usually is "I like being cold!"

I ran out of the original wool I had bought, and the slippers didn't go up the ankles far enough o stop them slipping off, so I spun up some of the new wool I have, and used it to crochet around the ankles a couple of times, added a bow and a frill, and here you go. I think it was the frill that won DD over!

Now I just have to wind the rest of the wool up, and I think I'll knit some socks out of it!

As someone kindly pointed out, this wool is not plyed. I didn't have enough of the initial slipper wool to ply, so I knitted it in one ply. Since I needed some of this extra to finish off the slippers, I didn't ply it either, and I think that will be good for my socks, as I don't want the wool to be too thick. I'll give plying a go on my next lot of wool, which I think will be some beautiful brown fleece.

Solar!

I was doing the washing up this afternoon, and I just happened to glance down the hallway and out the door, and this was the view that greeted me! Our solar (hot water) panels are on! No storage tank yet, but it's a start. I guess they must have gone on today, as there were about 4 cars/ute's here today doing stuff. I thought they were all painting, but I guess not.

The painting does appear to be done though. With a spray by the looks of things. Can't see inside because the windows are all covered, but I can see where the spray has gone over the plastic covers. It's very good to see some progress, after about 2 weeks of NOTHING. I don't see any way it will be done by the 9th, but hopefully in the next few weeks.

Edited to say: I keep coming back to look at this picture, and it gives me a great deal of satisfaciton. I think it sums up our new house far more than any picture of the actual house could. The water tank in the foreground, solar panels on the roof, and gum trees (not on our place) in the distance. I finally feel like we're starting to get there!

The Frugal Haircut

I've actually been cutting DH's hair for a lot longer than I've been into simple living. It started many year ago, not long after we were married. DH likes to keep his hair short, and have frequent cuts, and the expense of this was adding up, not to mention the time it took to actually go have it done. So we bought a $20 pair of hair clippers, figuring it was only the cost of a single haircut if it didn't work out. They lasted us about 3 years. The second $30 pair lasted about a year. Then DH decided that we might as well do it properly, and bought a $100 set of Wahl clippers, which are very nice. The have a lot more gradations of cut (the cheep ones usually have only size 1-4 combs, whereas the Wahl has up to size 8), and are a much better quality. Cared for properly, they should last us a long time.

We find it easiest to do it outside with a long extension cord, as it's much easier to clean up. I start by doing the back with a lower clipper length, today it was a 4, then the top with a higher size, today a 6 (slightly longer for winter). To blend between the back and top I just lift the clippers slightly away from his scalp as I cut.

Then I just tidy up the back without a comb on, trim around his ears with scissors, and it's done! Saved us a lot over the years, not only in dollars, but in time, which is even more valuable. Now if only I could figure out how to cut my own hair...

What is Simple Living?

When I first heard of simple living, I thought it meant giving up things. Even though I wanted the lifestyle, I wasn't prepared to give things up to get it. I like my TV, and my computer, and even my microwave. It all seemed too hard. I had done the simple living thing before. When we lived on the river, with no power, a wood stove, an outside toilet, and 40 deserted acres, we were living simply. I'll always remember that time fondly, but I don't want to go back to it. Having a toilet inside is just too convenient, as is running hot water! Then I began reading Aussie's living simply, and some blogs by people living simply, and I realised that you didn't have to go to those lengths to live simply. Here were people living simply on acreage, on city blocks, and in apartments.

Simple living isn't about doing without. In fact, you actually end up with a better quality of life. You food is better, you get more exercise, your health improves. You gain satisfaction from being able to do something yourself, and you feel more of a connection with your life, and the world around you.

Growing your own food is immensely satisfying. Watching the cycle of growth, from seed to plant to seed again, and knowing that in an emergency you could provide food for your family, is a feeling that can't be matched by any amount of shopping. I also find that gardening, being among growing things, is very calming and soothing to the soul.

Making your own clothes and household items, whether from store bought material, recycled clothes, or from scratch by spinning your own wool to knit, satisfies the creative side of me. Textiles and the many ways of creating them is an endless source of fascination, and I'm coming to the realisation that there is very little that I couldn't make for my family if I had to. Spinning is my latest interest, hopefully soon to be followed by sock knitting and dyeing using natural dyes.

My days are filled with so many projects that I don't know how I'm going to fit them all in! Yes, simple living is more time consuming, but it is filled with so much interest and the excitement of discovery that I wouldn't give it up for all the money and buying power in the world.

Rosella's!

We harvested our first real lot of rosella's today. This is the first time we've had more than a few of anything, so I'm pretty happy with them. DD got a teapot at a second hand store recently, and has been really wanting to make tea. Figured she wouldn't like the real thing, but rosella tea might be just the ticket. Luckily Rhonda over at Down to Earth recently talked about making rosella tea (I hadn't heard of it before), so we thought we'd give it a go.

First job is to pull all the exterior red bits off the rosellas. These have a lot of very fine hairs that can stick into you, but they aren't too serious. DD gave up pretty quickly, but I persevered, and got about a litre jug full of bits (calyx I think they're called?)

This leaves you with all the little seedpods. There really is no excuse for not saving your rosella seeds, it's so easy. Leave any green seedpods until they've dried out.

The brown, dried out ones just break apart, and the seeds fall out. Put them away in a jar or envelope to plant next year.

The calynx we put on a sheet of greaseproof paper in a slow (about 100 degrees) oven for an hour or two till they were dry and crumbly. Then just crumble them up, and put in some tea. You only need a small amount (about a teaspoon for a cup), but do let them soak for a while so that the flavour has a chance to come out. We didn't do that the first time, and DD wasn't impressed with the resultant brew. The bit left in the teapot was much nicer about half an hour later. Not sure if DD has been put off by the initial failure though, will see if she wants to try it again tomorrow. Maybe a tea party in the cubby house will entice her.

I only used a small amount for the tea, being unsure of it's reception. The rest of the rosella's became jam, which I think I'm almost ready to prefer over strawberry jam. It's also been accepted as a strawberry jam alternative, which is great in a house where strawberry has been the only option up until now. As rosella's are much easier to grow (and less likely to get eaten before making it to the jam state), this is a good thing. I only got one small jar out of that lot, but still one less jar we have to buy. And it's all organic too! I even used frozen lemon juice from lemons picked from my sister's tree a few weeks ago.

We also harvested this pumpkin the other day when we built the chicken pen. It's only small, but still should be edible. I'm thinking this one will become pumpkin soup, if only I can find time to make it!

I'm a little heavy on the planned projects right now, and feeling a little overwhelmed and can't decide what to do first, so I'm going to take it slow. I may (or may not) take a blogging break for a day or two while I think about it. Stay tuned...