Lightening Online

I’m the kind of cook that hates following a recipe. Unfortunately, this can lead to many disasters in the kitchen. However, sometimes new and experimental ideas do work out and a new recipe is born (if I can only remember what I actually did!!!! LOL).

At the moment, this style of cooking is coming in handy as I attempt to use up all kinds of bits and pieces before we head off on the “big trip”.

Last week, in an attempt to use up some custard powder and some sprinkles, I made custard biscuits rolled in sprinkles. They went down very well.

Last night, I had a sheet of puff pastry and a bottle of pureed apple to use up. I grabbed 4 apples from the fridge (several of which needed using up including one with the tiniest bite taken out of it) and cut them up into a pie dish. Then sprinkled them with a little sugar. Poured the bottle of pureed apple over the top and finished it off with the sheet of puff pastry brushed with egg and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

It was GOOD!!!!

I was worried the pureed apple might have made it a bit too soggy but the fresh apple and puree blended together well to make a delicious filling of similar consistency to stewed apple.

The kids all really liked it and it was pretty quick and simple to make (other than the 40 minutes cooking time). I think it might be a keeper.

Sadly, I didn’t take a photograph to show you. Maybe next time?

Let’s hope some of my future “Use it up” experiments work out as well as this one did. They may well become more and more strange as supplies get low.

A while back, Farmboy and I were staying with some people and he noticed that the female member of this family took quite a long time to get ready to go anywhere, much to the frustration of her husband.

He indicated to me at the time how thankful he was that I’m not like that.  At the time I wasn’t sure if if was a positive or a negative.  Maybe I don’t take enough time with my appearance?

Anyway, out of curiosity, we timed how long it does take me and discovered that I can get through a shower (including washing my hair), get dressed, do my hair and make up and be out in the door in around 15 minutes.

Generally speaking, I allow myself 30 minutes to an hour to get ready to go anywhere.  Usually that includes eating breakfast (and my wake up cup of tea) though.

I have to admit that yesterday I was very thankful for this skill.  I was running late getting back from driving the tractor and had to be in town by midday for my piano lesson.  I ended up with 20 minutes in which to get myself ready, organise any of Lleyton’s needs  (who was home sick), grab what I needed for the trip into town and have a quick run-through of the piece of been learning on the piano and leave.

I made it.  Just.

It has made me wonder though.  Are we 2 extremes here?  I can’t remember how long it was taking this person to get ready but it did seem like an awfully long time.

How long does it take you to get ready to go out somewhere?  Do you have a fast mode and a slower mode?

I don’t tend to get too involved with political discussions.  I usually prefer the ostrich mentality of “stick my head in the sand and let someone else worry about it”.  Plus I like to avoid conflict whenever I can so embarking on political debate kind of goes against the grain.  I mean, there’ll always be someone who disagrees with your viewpoint.

However, I’m going to stick my neck out here and say I’m not a big fan of paid maternity leave.

I have 3 main reasons:

1.  Somewhere along the line, someone is going to have to pay for it.

It’s either going to come out of our taxes or cause an increase in the cost of goods and services.  That money has to come from somewhere!  So what are we really achieving at the end of the day?

If the cost of living goes up, or our taxes do, having children is only going to become more difficult, not less.

2.  Why do people need enticement to have children?

I have to question anyone who needs extra enticement to have children.  Motherhood involves sacrifice.  Lots of it.  If you’re not willing to make it - are you really ready?

Are we going to entice the best types of people into motherhood with all the incentives we’re adding?

3.  It forces people back into the workforce

I know someone who had 13 weeks paid maternity leave in the private sector.  The catch?  She has 12 months to get back to work or she loses her maternity leave payment.  Too bad if the money is spent and she doesn’t want to go back to work.

I’m not against wormen in the workforce.  I’m a big believer in personal choice.  But I’m also a fan of stay at home mums and I think we really don’t need anymore arm twisting to push mums back into the workforce before they are ready.

There you have it.  My opinion on paid maternity leave.  I acknowledge that it’s not a clear cut “one size fits all” type of arrangement.  And the lastest offering by the government seems more of a political stunt than anything.  I haven’t looked into it in depth but it sounds like you have to sacrifice other payments in order to get the paid maternity leave they are offering.

I still think the old system they had in place back in the baby bonus days is the best.  Many people didn’t realise that when the government first brought in the $3000 lump sum payment, it was actually a decrease in the amount parents got for their children.

The concept of the baby bonus (not the maternity payment) is that those on high incomes when they have their children get paid more over the first 5 years of their life.  It’s a tax repayment system.  If you paid a lot of tax before your child was born and then went on to not earn an income (or a lesser income), the government gave you some of that tax back.  Seems fair to me.  Those who didn’t pay a lot of tax still got $500 a year for the first 5 years of their child’s life.

Over To You

I’d love to hear your opinions on paid maternity leave.  Fair?  Unfair?  Reasonable?  Unreasonable?  How do you think the government should tackle the whole “family payments” system?

Last week turned out to be a rather busy week.  You may have guessed that by my  not posting as often as I usually do.  I had sick kids home from school 4 days out of the 5.  I was busy doing shifts on the tractor on top of trying to deal with sick kids, general housework, preparing for a busy weekend and so on.  Oh, and trying to get the washing done at MIL’s (that’s Mother-In-Law for those not familiar with net-speak) and deciding what to do about repairing or replacing our broken washing machine.

Suffice to say, I didn’t get anywhere near the amount of “extra” housework stuff done I was planning to.  I did try to do a couple of smaller jobs, so that I could at least feel like I was making some progress toward my goals.

Family Room

DONE:

• Cleaned out kids drawing drawers.  I swear our textas are breeding.  Must get the kids to go through and chuck out whatever doesn’t work.

TO BE DONE:

• Toy Cupboard sorted and decluttered
• Kids books (which are currently in the cupboard) sorted and decluttered

Kitchen

DONE:

• Re-sorted and cleaned the cutlery drawer.  I don’t understand how something holding CLEAN dishes gets so dirty!!!!
• Cleaned the dishwasher.  Farmboy wanted to know how I got it so clean (he’d run a cleaning cycle through recently).  “”With a cloth” I told him with a roll of my eyes.  LOL.  He’s of the opinion that dishwashers should be totally self cleaning.
• Cleaned and resorted medicine cupboard.   Oh my!!!!  That was well overdue!!!!  No wonder I couldn’t find anything!
• Cleaned the top of the fridge and freezer.  Not too much clutter up there but boy were there dust bunnies breeding happily!!!!

TO BE DONE:

• Plastics drawers
• Corner cupboard

Other

While the washing machine was out of the laundry, I cleaned under and behind where it goes.  Also cleared and cleaned the window sill while it was easier to get to (the washing machine sits under the window).

One less job to do now that I have a new washing machine - don’t need to clean the old one! 

This Week’s Plan

This week is the final on my 3 week rotation.  The focus is laundry and office, both of which are the more neglected (hidden away) rooms.  I’m going to focus completely on the laundry this time around and see if I can get it completely decluttered, tidied and cleaned.  It’s a job that really only needs doing about once a year so once it’s done, I should be able to maintain until we go away and can focus on the office on the next 2 rotations.

TO DO:

• Empty freezer, defrost and clean
• Deal with stuff stashed on top of freezer
• Deal with stuff that’s been accumulating in the corner (mostly stuff that needs some decisions made about whether it’s being decluttered or not)
• Deal with stuff that was on top of the washing machine
• Clean tumble dryer
• Sort through linen cupboard
• Sort through cleaning cupboard
• Sort through cupboard underneath sink
• Clean sink

Will see if I can get through that list this week.  No sport on Saturday so I can put some time into it then if I don’t get it all done before then.

Some of you already know the story of the day Farmboy and I met and how, in an innocent conversation, I informed him that I had no intention of marrying a farmer.  I have no idea what possessed me to share that with him but out it came in the course of conversation.  In fact, until that comment came out of my mouth, I didn’t even know I felt that way.  I guess I’d never met a “real” farmer before so there had been no reason to even consider how I felt about the whole issue.

He then proceeded to politely ask me why and to try and refute all my objections to being a farmers wife.

It’s one of those moments you might come across in a story where the author puts in an “if only they’d known” type comment. 

I can honestly say that neither of us had marriage to one another in mind at that moment.  After all, we’d only met just minutes before.  Our common link was Farmboys youngest brother.

Despite my intentions, we did indeed fall in love and I had to reconsider my intention to never marry a farmer.

It wasn’t an easy time in my life and involved a lot of tears and anguish.  Who’d have though falling in love could be so complicated????

I’d like to say that all of my fears were unfounded and that I took to farming life like a duck to water.  As it turns out, my fears were only the tip of the iceberg.  I had no idea about things like working hours and struggles to work with family.  arrgggh….

My biggest fears were based on media portrayal of farming life.  Lack of basic services, isolation and of course, the horrible media portrayal of the anguish farmers went through in the 80s when banks forced some of them from their land.

There have been numerous times over the years that I’ve wished I had stuck to my gut instinct to stay right away from farming.  I’ve never regretted marrying the man that Farmboy is.  His profession on the other hand….

To his credit, Farmboy has never thrust things upon me the way some husbands do their wives.  He doesn’t complain about my fuel usage if I go somewhere the way his father did to his mother.  He does occasionally ask for my help with different things but generally only as a last resort rather than a first resort like some other farmers.  He’s never made me feel inadequate about my lack of farming knowledge (not that that has stopped me from feeling inadequate).

We even did the whole “move to the farm” thing gradually, living in town for 4 years before venturing out onto the farm.

Many of you will be aware that farming has been going through some pretty tough times over the past years.  At the end of last year, Farmboys brother left the farm.  This was due to a combination of factors.

I have to admit, I was a little bit jealous.  How come he gets to go and we have to stay and continue to struggle?  Not just financially but emotionally.

At the end of the day, it’s our decision to stay.

I have to admit though, I’ve been harbouring a secret hope that while we’re away, something might come up that would cause us not to come back.  Or only to come back temporarily to sort things out before relocating up north somewhere.

Well, all that changed in the past week.

Why?

I tried tractor driving.

And I REALLY like it.

Really, REALLY like it!!!!

Who’d have thought.

Darn you tractor, now I WANT to come back from our trip.

It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!!!!

I guess I’m going to have to add this to my “101 Things I Thought I’d Never Do” list.

Now that the school term has started, our trip seems imminently closer.  We actually leave THIS term.  Okay, it’s right at the end but it’s still THIS term.  And school terms seem to speed by rather quickly.

Rather than get in a panic and overwhelmed, I’ve decided to set myself a focus for each week.  This will be stuff that I want to get done over and above my normal weekly routines.

The biggest issue will be pacing myself.  Last week I started off the week with a bang and ended up exhausting myself.  Balance….easier said than done but I need to try.  Don’t really want to go away with a perfect house and too exhausted to enjoy myself.

As it turns out, the house divides up nicely into 3 “sections”:

1. Bedrooms

2. Kitchen and Living Areas

3. Office & Laundry (the “unseen” areas that always get left until last)

There are 10 weeks this term but we’re hoping to leave part way through week 10.  That leaves me 9 weeks.  This will mean that each section gets “focused” on 3 times before we leave.  That takes the pressure off in these early weeks although I am trying to get as close to organised as possible before the end of the May so that June isn’t too busy/stressed.

I’m hoping that a weekly progress report put here will help keep me motivated.

Week 1 - BEDROOMS

Singstar Princess’s Room

Decluttered a Heap of Stuff and packed away a few things into the wardrobe so that less is out.  Sorted out the top of her bedside cupboard, top of her drawers and the top of the drawers inside her cupboard.  Her bedroom is looking really good.  Not much left to be done in there if we can maintain it until we go away (well, I can live in hope can’t I????)

OUT - About a garbage bag size of rubbish, toys and clothes/shoes

TO BE DONE - Pull bed out and vacuum behind.  Some sorting of drawers.  Window and window sill needs cleaning.

Boys Room

Moved both beds and cleaned out underneath them.  Dusted and vacuumed.

OUT - Almost a garbage bag full of rubbish and finished with kits.  Some clothes and shoes that are too small.

TO BE DONE - Trailer Boys toy cupboard.  Clean window and sill.  Tops of drawers.

Our Room

Dealt with some paperwork that was accumulating (not sure why in there?).  Put away washing that had been accumulating on dressing table *blush*.  General tidy up and dust.

OUT - Some old bits of make-up and a couple of pairs of pants.

TO BE DONE - Go through all of my drawers and wardrobe.

Other Decluttering

Google Reader - big clean out of blogs I rarely read to make it more manageable.  None of yours of course (unless you’re a lurker and I don’t know you’re here - hint! hint!).

Resigned as an Admin at Aussie Bloggers Forum.  I’m still very passionate about the forums and will still be there as a member but don’t really have the extra time to invest right now so I’ve stepped down.  If you’ve not checked it out, please do so.  It’s a great place to be.

Working on decluttering some email subscriptions to reduce the amount of email  I get.

Week 2 - KITCHEN & LIVING AREAS

Week 2 has started today and I haven’t gotten very far as I spent a few hours on the tractor this morning then went into town for my gym session and to research washing machines (ours is broken ).

Hopefully tomorrow I can make a start.

Hands up if you’d like $50 to spend on clothes?

Who wouldn’t right?

To celebrate the launch of their new site Perfect Pose, Ezibuy are giving away a $50 voucher to one reader of this site.

What do you have to do to win?

Simply visit the Perfect Pose website and select your favourite tip for improving the way you pose for photographs.  Then share your favourite tip and why you like it.

Here’s my favourite tip:

This may take some practise, but close your eyes and open them just before the camera snaps and the bulb flashes. This gives your eyes a great sparkle and also minimises the chances of you blinking!

I totally HATE it when you get a photograph that would have been perfect had the subject not had their eyes closed the second the image was taken!!!!  Lleyton has actually taken to doing this because he ALWAYS seems to end up with his eyes closed in photographs.

Your answer can be funny or serious and I will choose my favourite to win the $50 voucher.

Either enter your tip in the comments section below or send me an email (you can do so using the comment form if you don’t have my direct email address).

Entries close 5pm (Sydney time) Friday 8th May 2009 and winners will be announced as part of my Smiley Saturday post on Saturday 9th May 2009.  Voucher is valid until 31st May 2009.

Wouldn’t that be a nice little bonus Mother’s Day gift?

So, go and check it out and get your entries in.

My apologies to international readers but this particular competition is only open to Australian residents.

P.S.  I really LOVE Ezibuy!!!  It’s awesome for people like myself who can’t always get to shops.  I find it to be reasonably priced and great quality.  This has nothing to do with the promotion.  I’m just sayin’…….