Adulation for the old boy!

The big squirrel doesn't get much adulation. With all that is going on on a day to day basis I just don't get around to that and it is much easier to focus on what he is not doing!

But, here is a post (my second for the day) just dedicated to him. Not only has he been working extremely hard establishing a new business which is still really in its infancy, he is also working around the house (and dealing with my demands but that is a different post). Our renovations have been dragging on FOREVER and I think you get to a point where if you don't finish it you stop seeing it. Having grown up in a house like that I really don't want that to happen.

Today, my darling has been busy digging up a segment of the concrete driveway to remove a root of a big deciduous tree owned by the neighbour. He got this ready for concrete to be poured tomorrow. Then after a quick dinner, he headed into the bathroom to lay a few more tiles in there. Now it is onto some paperwork. I know he wont read this because computers aren't his fortae, but if you see him, could you pass on my love and thanks. He really is a good boy.

My dream bike

Part of my new philosophy is to get a bit healthier and get a bit greener - as well as saving money. So a bike has been on the radar for a while - but there are a few downsides - three young children, a main road and living on a big hill!

Given those constraints, the big hill is one that wont change - but the main road and children need to be managed. Alexander isn't skilled enough yet to ride his bike solo yet, but he is getting closer. The twins are WAY OFF. So the challenge has been how to get them around without the car. We have bought one of those bike trailers which do fit the twins, but it is a bit unstable. The problem is when I get off the bike, the bike falls over and the trailer is really wobbly which makes getting in and out of it quite difficult.

I had watched an episode of the ABC's Carbon Cops some time back and they had this great bike. My brother was over today and we were chatting about potentially building one. For some reference we were surfing the net and found some rickshaw style bikes, but the kids were at the back. Then we stumbled on the Danish Christiania bike. This is the one I have been fantasizing about for the last 6 months - and have finally found out what it is and a local distributor. Have more of a look at www.psbikes.com.au

Blast from the Past

It happens to all of us.... as time goes by you lose touch with people. Work, love and life just takes you in different directions. But isn't it wonderful when you reconnect. This happened tonight.

Through a chance encounter we met up again with Lucie and tonight was her engagement party. It was a great night at her parents place (much more civilized than parties of our past!!) and there were people I hadn't seen for probably close to 15 years - but it feels like yesterday. Emails were exchanged as well as summarized life stories. It seems funny to put so much of your life into a nutshell. (Got married, moved house, had kids - all seems weird)

So to Lucie and Steve I wish them love and happiness in their lives and hope it isn't so long until the next reunion.

Saving Money - some plans

So, my Make Do Mend mentality - what am I doing. Some of the things are simple and some of them I simply should have been doing anyway.

• Banking. I have taken the time to look at our accounts and there are lots of charges and fees for things that can be reduced. I have an appointment with them to talk about changing some of these things
• Credit card - simple - pay it off each month. It is a matter of knowing when it is and doing it, not leaving it at the maximum and paying it to buy something else.
• Coffee - learning to love nescafe and tea - from home.
• Stopping daily delivery of the newspaper.
• Saving energy and water - we are watching and limiting our lights and wasting resources
• Never, never, never buy pay full price
• trying to shop at Aldi - but struggling getting my food thrown at me
• I worked today and I took my lunch. Not only was it much nicer, but I saved about $10 from the awful sandwich shop there.
• Taking the time to watch what we do spend our money on and assess whether we need to make each purchase
• We have a saving goal in mind - competition works best for the big squirrel. Once I can get him on board we have a chance of saving.
• Our vegie patch - the idea is to be a little sustainable, however we have had one dwarf carrot from the winter crop. It is growing but slowly.
• Watching wasting petrol just 'driving' and buying petrol on Tuesdays - with dockets

They are all little things but will add up in the end - I hope. Happy to hear any of your ideas too.

No reprieve

As you can see, sleep just made them more creative and active. The house was deceptively quiet as I crept down the hall I could hear the sound of paper - like the newspaper being pulled apart. I forgot that I had left the 70m roll of brown paper in our room (from our Christmas!!) They were so proud of themselves and then they moved onto the sticky tape!!!!!

Is it wrong of me to be looking forward to going to work tomorrow??????????????

Suck it up!

Some days just suck.

I could leave it there and I know you would all agree. I am feeling better after our aeroplane 'crash' but I think it always takes time for these things to really repair. So, I had decided today was going to be a good day- but not so far. I finally hussled all the kids out the door to playgroup. Alexander hadn't been since kinder so it was all going to be a bit weird. The only thing weird was the lack of people - only us and one other family.

So a nice intimate play happened with the twins and her child, and while chatting she tells me the bad news that she and her partner have split up. At least it is all amicable, but the whole thing just sucks. Not a very nice place to be in.

Spencer fell out of a box and they were all getting tired and ratty so we came home. After a lunch of left over turkey, I allowed them a quick play before their sleep. Well, one was in my sewing cabinet undoing cottons at a rate of knots, only to spin around to see the other spreading pins all over the carpet from the pincushion he had swiped. It is hard enough to get time to 'do' anything, let alone have to pack it up all the time.

With the twins tucked into bed and Alexander engrossed in Ratatouille I may sneak some time for some handsewing of Peter Pan - and a minor pin hunt.

Happy New Year

So, we had Christmas last night and today is a new financial year - which I am treating as a new year.

Our new philosophy of Make, Do, Mend should really kick in from today. Some of my goals include ensuring all our food is healthy, watching where our money is going and trying to reduce wastage in general. Things just creep up on you and it is only when you analyze them that you realise how much you can waste. The occasional bought coffee turned into one - two a week and this was on the rise to almost one a day. And it didn't stop at coffee because the cafe became an outing and I needed to buy food for the kids. This added up to hundreds of dollars over the year which could be better spent elsewhere or saved.

We are going well so far....