Sorry but absent...

I'm a bit blank today, hence no post until 6pm. It's been a long one, first with rising at 4.30am with Ethan who had a morning full of so much energy it started super early. From there I've babysat for a few hours for a friend, and then after that had another friend visit with her three daughters. So at 37weeks, with only about 5 hours of broken sleep under my belt, I am too tired to function. Ethan and his dad have gone to get chips from the shop to compliment the 'out of the box' kievs we're having for dinner, and I'm sitting here wondering what to tell the cyber world....

I am tired. I could rant and rave today about the injustices of the little world I live in, but luckily for your ears I'm even too tired for that!

Tell you all about them another time.....

To go and discover new things...

Like where the heck is Susie Homemaker? I've been searching for her all week, and I just can't find my inner susie!

I've got a new project to start, as soon as my knitted baby blanket is finished. I'm going to try making my own dishcloths, using the time to learn new stitches along the way. But like I said, my inner susie is hiding most days, and I only find time to knit at night if I'm lucky! I got the idea from down--to--earth and am trying very hard not to beat myself up over my lack of time organisation. Right now, for instance, I really should be off and organising dinner, because I am making a lasagne and I like it to 'sit' for at least a couple of hours. I also would love to put on some biscuits for Ethan, who's been begging me for some all morning and is now asleep. His evil mother doesn't buy biscuits from the supermarket like other mums (actually, she doesn't buy alot of things that the other mums do, and he looks in their refrigerators with amazement when ever we visit our neighbours!), she makes them from scratch, and he seems to enjoy both the making and the eating processes!

I have a recipe for checker biscuits, which I'm pretty sure is from Delia Smiths book "Frugal Food" or "Destitute Gourmet", and I think they'd give him a real kick. I'm not a real big fan of lots of sugar, and without wanting to sound like a hippy mother on a soapbox screaming obscenities about additives, it sure is an ugly coincidence that every time Ethan puts something with a number in his tummy he turns in to a pretty hideous beast and can't stop himself but to have more, more, more mummy! I find that with homemade recipes at least, he might still want a few biscuits, but the only additives he's having are sugar, and usually coconut and maybe cocoa. They satisfy his newly found love of sweet things, and I know how long I can freeze the spares for and only give him access to a couple a day.

Any way, better go and try stir up my inner Susie Homemaker. The husband got home from work today, and lasagne is not just a favourite, but something he assures me that I do better than anyone who's ever made it on a camp worksite, so I better whip one up before he awakes from nightshift to find that Old Mother Hubbard has demonically possessed little Susie Homemaker and there's nothing for dinner!

Conscious Decision Making

I don't know if I am just floating aimlessly and purpose-lessly through out my life sometimes, but it often feels like I go for days without making any real decisions about who or what I am. Today I made the decision, however ironically, that these days need to be fewer and further between.

I can see often that I am surrounded by an endless sea of mindless chatter and disrespectful consumerism, which only vaguely hides the rampant competitiveness of the people I know. It drives me crazy to hear women (only in this example!) sitting in a cafe mindlessly comparing their latest plastic conquests of toys that aren't enriching anything to do with their lives and then following that up with a tick-a-box of the faux-benefits of these said items when basically all it boils down to is often a need to get their offspring over to another part of the home so that they can return to more rampant consumerism in their homes. I had become one of these women, not so long ago, with an awful penchant for 'just nipping down the shops' and buying crap I didn't need or even really want. I felt like a freed witch the day I found the broom I needed to fly away from that dragon, leave my consumer ego behind and free my mind to other endeavours.

But alas, as with all non-fiction stories, it hasn't so much met a happy ending just yet. I still find myself with an awfully long to-do list of things that aren't getting completed, or sometimes even attempted, and although I only know the guilt of a non-catholic, the monster creeps up on me every day to remind me how lazy I can be.

So here I am. Bare bones, heart on sleeve saying that I have finally let my pregnant brain achieve one or two small milestones this evening. I have done some housework (put on laundry, the dishwasher and folded clothes), and returned to update this here blog. I one day would love a shiny, picture-of-our-lives blog that is beautiful to the eye, but while I am running a business such as I am from home, I haven't often got time to scratch myself until nightfall, and then I am sometimes too tired to even achieve that! My big achievement for today though, is that I finally remembered to mix my laundry detergent with bicarb soda! I know, I know, a very small feat, but one that hopefully extends the life of my washing powder and also lessens the need for a pre-wash every single time.

I'm taking time tonight also to write my to-do list for next week. It is going to be rather huge, as I'm taking the week off of working from home to well, um, work in my home and get it to a nice pretty point where I can feel like my mind is less clouded. I have clutter in every dark corner, and the need to clear my home for extra children each day is not helping me sort things out - there is a need for bar stools to be stored in the foyer during the week and not at the breakfast bar, and also a need for a second sofa in an already cramped playspace for children 'just in case' they are tired from too much play. So some clutter is going to have to be re-thought, and others just re-assigned to charity, friends in need and well, hopefully not, but the recycling depot.

So off I go, to begin my list...so long as I can find a pen on that breakfast bar and don't get swallowed in to the abyss of thoughtlessness once my bottom touches the couch!

Ah, planning ahead rocks!

I had a huge big cookup a couple of weeks ago, which has resulted in my ability to be lazy as I feel for at least the next week. During that cookup, I made a huge amount of lasagne and freezed about 3/4 of it. And some of that is what me and the kids just had for lunch.

*Burp* 'scuse me.

Total spend today : Zero.

What an easy day...

You've gotta love it when 25% of your day's workload doesn't show up huh?!

We were supposed to have four children to care for today (including my son), and one hasn't shown up! Bliss! So right now I'm listening to the sounds of silence while the three who are here sleep away the afternoon.

Hope that your day is equally lovely and easy!

Oh, today was a No Spend day! I am sooo pleased about that. Yesterday I forgot was a public holiday, so forgot to grocery shop for the week (only did my fruit and veg on sunday at the farmers' market). Turns out, after doing a pantry/fridge/freezer stocktake, I don't need to go anywhere near the shops until at least next week, because the amount of food I have stocked up here is Ridiculous! I've even managed a two-week menu plan out of it. Very proud of my new frugal-mindedness paying off already!