Trampoline Park!

A trampoline park opened in a nearby town and Miss E visited with her youth group last night. After two hours of jumping and a quick trip to McDonalds, she arrived home tired. It is great to have a fun venue for teenagers close by because the other trampoline park is over an hour away and this park is twenty minutes away.

Last night wasn't the first time Miss E has visited the park. On Monday we met another home-schooling family with a daughter close to Miss E's age and had a wonderful time catching up and hanging out. I did film Miss E doing a front flip into the foam pit.

It was great to see the girls trying out all the different areas and encouraging each other to try different trampolines and going during school time meant that they just about had the park to themselves.

Sad Day

We received a sad call from my parents last night to say that their dog, Gypsie had been hit and killed by a car. I don't know all the details about the accident but when Mum called crying last night I think my heart just about stopped in fear that something had happened to Dad.


After the quick call from Mum, I had to break the news to Miss E and my heart broke watching her upset and in tears. It's not the first time that I have had to explain to Miss E that a beloved animal has died but it doesn't get easier each time I see her upset.

This is not the only sad news that we have had this week. On Monday as I went to check on our chickens, I could only find one rooster so I can only assume that a fox killed eight chickens. Now we have a very sad rooster that I hope the fox doesn't return to kill.

Miss E, Milly and Gypsie




RIP GYPSIE
We love and miss you!

Living Virtuously Giveaway!

Over at  www.keeperofthehomestead.com 5 lucky people have the amazing opportunity to win a copy of Erin Harrison's brand new book called:

 

In this book, I cover 24 Virtues.  

1. Love–What is virtue
2. Conduct–Modesty
3. Conversation–Being careful with our words
4. Commitment–Keeping commitments
5. Goodness–Being good and not evil
6. Helping–Learning how to be a good help meet
7. Marriage
8. Work Ethic-A,B,C,D worker
9. Being Frugal
10. Hospitality and Meal Planning–14 day meal plan with grocery list–Table manners/place setting
11. Wisdom–Being careful when spending money
12. Strength–Health and wellness
13. Confidant–Pride verses Godly confidence/Marketing
14. Contentment–Content with daily grind/week schedule
15. Compassion–Helping those in need
16. Prepared/Not Afraid
17. Skilled–Interior design
18. Known–not smearing someone's name
19. Orderly–How to organize your home
20. Joyful
21. Kindness
22. Keeping the Home–Cleaning basics and chore charts/Time management–Schedule.
23. Mothering–child training and balance
24. Praise

While I have not read this book yet, I am hoping to purchase a copy very soon as I think it would be invaluable in any homemaker's library because of the many different topics covered. I have been a follower of Erin's for sometime and I have been greatly encouraged by many of her posts.
So head on over to her blog for your chance to win and Good Luck!


Kelly

Looking at ways to save and earn money!

Now that I have decided to not work for four months I have been on the lookout for ways to save money around my home. As the saying goes, "It's easier to save money than earn money".

So I have started on one of my ideas but it's going to take a few months before I see any savings. Over here in Australia we are currently in winter especially as we live in southern Australia, it is cold, today's temperature is meant to reach 14 degrees or 57 Fahrenheit. Not the ideal temperature to start gardening but I purchased raspberry canes, a blueberry plant and 6 strawberry plants. In total they cost around $20 but with a punnet of raspberries costing $8.00 in the supermarket and a punnet of blueberries costing around $6.00 and strawberries are currently $4.00 a punnet, the savings will be great once we begin to harvest.

In March we were also given 7 one week old bantam x silkie chicks that have joined our one white hen, now they are 2 months off from hopefully producing eggs so we wont have to buy eggs and we will sell excess eggs to buy food for them and their manure will be used in the vegetable garden that I am currently work on. I have also had the idea to grow herbs seeing as I love to cook with them and any excess herbs I was think I could sell too.

Currently I have the chicken coop over the area that I will turn into a vegetable patch once the warm weather begins but they have been doing a fabulous job of scratching the dirt as well as fertilizing it so when spring arrives I can grow beautiful organic vegetables!

It amazes me that even though we only live on a surburban block there are many ways that I could not only save money but I have the potential with some hard work to make money as well. We have some fruit trees planted such as an apricot, plum, cherry and mandarin I also purchased a lemonade tree which is supposed to be a cross between lemon and mandarin. In the next couple of weeks I am hoping to buy an apple tree while the nursery is selling them bare-rooted for only $20.00.

Hard Decisions

I am sorry for the lack of posts but we are back      Hurray!

It has been a very busy time around our house lately, we have been travelling most weekends up to my brother's farm and the many social catch ups with our local home schoolers as well as with my work at after school care, we have been run off our feet with all the activities. But changes are occurring, my brother and sister-in-law have rented their farm out for a year and have decided to travel around Australia before my nephew starts school and my parents have decided to pack up their caravan and travel for about 4 months. So within a space of a few weeks all my support people will be leaving.

So then I came to the point of making the hard decision on what to do with Miss E while I went to work because it seemed to be a common question asked by many people.

Now that your mum and dad are leaving, what are your going to do with Miss E while your at work?

Well I had a few options but none of them seemed to be the right answer, including because she is 13 she could just stay at home by herself. I don't know about you but I didn't feel comfortable leaving her for at least 4 hours by herself and I would be about 30 minutes away if she needed me for anything.

So I made the decision to take myself off the roster at work for the next 4 months, so we will have more time to enjoy this:


Bush walking in the beautiful forest!

Looking for these guys in the trees!

Enjoying the scenery while we are looking!

I am looking forward to spending more time blogging about our new changes for our lives and I know it will be an interesting adventure as always.

5:2 Diet Weigh In Update!

On Monday I stepped onto the scales to weigh myself and see if the 5:2 diet was working and I'm pleased to say that I have lost 1.5kg  WooHoo!

This has been the first week which usually means that you lose a higher amount of weight so this week I might not lose as much but I'm quite happy to lose any amount of weight as long as my weight is going down.

The surprising thing is that I don't feel like I'm on a diet and that I could actually maintain this over a long period of time because I don't feel deprived of any food and no food is off limits. On Saturday night we even had fish and chips and I didn't feel guilt like I was breaking my diet because I had already fasted on Tuesday and Friday.

I have found in the past that because of this guilt of eating the wrong foods that it would be the excuse that I needed so I could give up and eat the wrong foods because trying to resist the food was hard work and then if I over indulged I would feel really guilt and it was just a vicious cycle. I just couldn't change my lifestyle to make the diet work, one day we were at home and I would be fine but the next I would have a church event or we would see family for a meal and there was no way I could stick with eating salads or counting points because all the food looked yummy!

My schedule is busy this week so I have planned my fast days for Monday and Friday so we will be home for the most of the day, on Friday we will be heading up to my brother's farm to stay so dinnertime will be the only time I would be tempted but if I stick to a small serving and watch what I eat earlier in the day I will be fine. On the normal days I think the important thing is not to overindulge because all the work on the fast days will be for nothing but I try not to limit myself so I will not feeling guilty. Everything in moderation is the key!

5:2 Diet

      

Last Sunday at church, I was talking to a lady that I had not seen in a while and she mentioned that her husband had lost 12 kg in 6 weeks on the 5:2 diet. Once we arrived home the first thing I did was look up on Google about this diet.

Now to be honest I have tried many of the diets that have been around, such as weight watchers but I have never been able to stick with them consistently. Basically there is nothing wrong with the diets but I have really struggled with being consistent when we go anywhere else to eat.

There is a documentary that a man named Micheal Mosley did that explains the theory behind the diet which is called Eat, Fast and Live Longer which can be watched here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms

The idea is that you eat what you would normally eat for 5 days and then for the other 2 days you would eat roughly 500 calories for women or 600 calories for men. The 2 days are fast days which helps to reduce your calorie intake for the week which should mean that you will lose weight.

As with any diet that you may try it is best if you talked to your doctor first and be cautious if you have any health problems.

On Monday I started with just a normal day where I ate and I didn't count any calories but on Tuesday I had a fast day where I counted calories to make sure I didn't go over 500 calories. It was not an easy day, I had a hungry feeling all day but I just kept focusing on the next day which was a normal day. I had the next fast day on Friday because I could stay at home which I have found make it easier to stick to the correct foods.

I have made a goal of trying this diet for 6 weeks to see whether I can lose weight, if I do, it would have to be one of the easiest diets that I have been on. I plan to weigh myself each Monday and see if I have lost weight. My next weight in will be on 3rd Feburary.

I really liked this diet because it didn't involve spending any money and they do haves book which would explain more but I decided I wanted to save money and just downloaded an app on my IPhone which counts the calories for me. I just figured that I would be strict on the 2 fast days and keep to the 500 calorie limit.

Has anyone tried this diet or any others and have had success with it? 

Escaping the Heat

Today was day 3 of  a heatwave, and the temperature reached 41 degrees Celsius or about 106 Fahrenheit. Yesterday the temperature reached nearly 46 degrees Celsius or about 115 Fahrenheit and the next couple of day are set to be around the same temperature.

Our Pool

Trying to rain in the distance

We have so far escaped the heat with going to the water park and beach on Monday. We went to the movies to watch Frozen, which was a great Disney movie, and the movie theatre was air-conditioned and then last night we again headed down to another beach not far from our house, so we could take the dogs for their first swim at the beach.

Sunset and it looks like storm clouds

Today I decided to have a quieter day so all we have done today is relax and watch some movies. But tonight I decided it was time to set up our pool that my parents gave us last year. It is an easy to set up pool, all that I had to do was inflate the top ring and then when the pool is filled with water it stands up. It took about an hour and a half to fill up but it was a fun way to cool down at the end of the day.

Our apricot tree just about ready to eat YUM!

With about two more days left of the heatwave I can leave the pool set up and we can enjoy it in the days to come. I'm just a little bummed that I have to work at the school holiday program tomorrow afternoon but at least we will be in air-conditioning, the temperature is expected to be 39 degrees or 102 Fahrenheit tomorrow and Friday it will be in the 40's again. I'm am not really a fan of the heat so I will be glad when this heatwave ends

Evening at the Beach

We are on day one of a heat wave and we have so far today spent the morning at the pool with Miss E and her friends going for a swim and having fun on the water slides. The place was very crowded but we decided to arrive early and try to beat the crowds but it seemed like just about everyone had the same idea as us.

Just as we arrived

Watching  the waves

The main thing was that the girls had a fabulous time and didn't want to leave which was fine because us mums were busy chatting and catching up ourselves. We were discussing curriculum choices and it seems like we have all decided to try the distance education curriculum.

After all the fun we headed to Kmart because I need to buy some 3/4 pants so I could be comfortable during the heat. We stocked up on some school supplies as school is about to start and they had some fantastic sales on currently in the stores.

We had dinner at my parents house so we could catch up with my uncle who was on holidays with his girlfriend which was lovely to catch up and hear their stories of their travels.

Sun setting over the water

As we were leaving

Then when dinner was finished we hit the surf beach. The water was still cool but it was lovely watching the beautiful sunset while Miss E  and her friend surfed on their boogie boards. We left just as the sun was setting and the heat of the day had gone so it was beginning to get cool.


Loved the sound of the waves and then seeing the setting sun I couldn't help myself I just wanted to share it with everyone, Enjoy!

Evening Beach Walk

Milly was trying to catch up with them

Mum, Miss E and I stayed home this weekend from the farm so tonight we decided to take Milly and Gypsy for a walk to the local beach. We were going to get fish and chips for dinner but decided on pizza instead. Miss E wanted chicken and Avocado pasta and Mum and I split a pizza.

The beautiful sunset

Then we headed down to the beach and enjoyed our dinner, once we were finished we head down the track beside the beach.

We noticed on the sign that mentioned to beware of snakes but luckily tonight was cool so we were hopeful that there were no snakes. We met a lady towards the end of our walk and she mentioned that a snake was sighted last week along the track and we decided it was time to head home before we ran into the snake.  It was starting to get windy on the way back to the car but I tried to video how beautiful this area was.

Cooking from Scratch

Moussaka and cannelloni

One of my goals this year is to do more cooking from scratch. Learning how to make our favourite foods and what they are made from, hopefully will help us to improve our diet. I am really hoping to focus on improving our health this year because I am overweight and I need to lose a significant amount. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Fried rice with homegrown veggies

         Last year I completed a Jamie Oliver cooking course, which gave me good ideas about cooking. Now I am wanting to improve my cooking skills so tonight I decided to try a new recipe which was moussaka with eggplant. Next time I need to cut the eggplant into small chucks so that Miss E doesn't know it's in there because she enjoyed it except for the eggplant.

Homegrown plums from the farm

We have been harvesting vegetables from the garden just peas, beans and carrots, they taste so much better than vegetables brought at the supermarket, so much favour!

To finish off our meal we made stewed plums but they were really sour because we picked them too early because the birds were eating them, they were yummy with custard and cream.

Blueberries

My brother was after some advice on what to do with his berries on his farm so we decided to take a trip to a blueberry farm. My brother has about 50 blueberry plants that are surrounded by blackberries and what we think maybe raspberries but we are not sure because some of the bushes are still flowering.

Look at all the blueberries

 We were invited to come along so Miss E and myself could go pick some blueberries. We didn't need to be asked twice, we love blueberries. They also had a few strawberry plants but because it was Monday most of the strawberries had been picked over the weekend. We love them as well. We are definitely love berries more than any other fruit so we love that we will be able to go and pick berries for free at the farm.

All the bushes and the bird-proof netting

                                         At the blueberry farm they have approximately 4 acres dedicated to growing berries, it is fully netted against birds. The owners said that his biggest pests are foxes, apparently they love berries as much as we do. So fox proof fences will have to be built around the berry patch, we didn't even think about foxes, there are even kangaroos we will have to watch for.

Yum!!

The owners were very friendly and invited my brother back in February so they could show him how to prune and propagate his bushes and how to look after his blueberry bushes. After we had picked a bucket full, we headed up to the counter to pay for our berries. It is so much cheaper to pick your own berries than buy them at the supermarket. We are lucky to not only have this blueberry farm close by but we also have a strawberry farm close by as well. Mmmmm strawberries, Yum!


        

Dogs taking over

Milly and Gypsy taking over the couch

It's funny how animals seem to take over our lives very quickly. All the family has a little soft spot for poor gypsy, as the runt of the litter she is very small compared to her brother, they look like they are from different litters because Ned, her brother, is about twice her size.

Just eaten and now nap time.

Today is our last day at the farm and we are currently packing all our stuff into our car to bring home. We really have had a nice relaxing holiday and we haven't really worked too hard. Yesterday we took a trip into their local town to go out for lunch at the pancake kitchen but it was full, we decided to go and eat at the bakery. The meat and potato pie I ate was delicious and Miss E ate a chicken and advocado sandwich. Last night we relaxed and watch Mary Poppins with the  kids.

Nearly time to leave and I'm just thinking of all the work when we arrive home of unpacking and washing not to mention dinner as well, at least I don't have to work this week so busy week ahead at home, nothing more I love!

Sorry

I am sorry for the lack of posts, here is what we have been doing:

Evening walks

Overlooking the dam

Cooking yummy desserts

Playing with the puppies

We have also been working really hard, clearing out the berry patch that has become overgrown after 10 years of neglect, we have loads of scratches and bumps from all our hard work but tomorrow we are taking the day off and taking the kids to the local wildlife park. It has been an enjoyable working holiday and of course HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!