Lightening Online

Kind of.

I’ve only ever read about them in books.

You know, where all the farming neighbours gather and put up a barn.

Of course, times have changed and we’re actually paying our friends to put up a shed.

Kind of.

It’s a fundraiser for our church.

The guys from church are here putting up a shed that will become our games room.

SQUEEEE!!!!

I’m pretty excited!

Here we are early in the day:

After lunch, things really started to take shape:

Of course, you can’t have a “barn raising” without some good old-fashioned home cooking.

Lemonade Scones for morning tea:

And White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberries for Dessert:

Gotta keep those volunteers happy!

We also had marinated steak rolls for lunch with onion and coleslaw which went down well.  And party pies and sausage rolls at morning tea.  Funnily enough, they didn’t stop for afternoon tea.  I think I fed them too well!

And as the sun began to set:

Not too bad for a days work.

Some of the guys are coming back tomorrow and hope to get it finished (or close to).

Then we just have to wait for the concreter to come and concrete it out.

Go Me!!!!

Things are going so much smoother having a menu plan.  I don’t know why I get so resistant to doing it.  I’ve even shopped this week based on the menu plan (something I very rarely do).

This Week’s Menu Plan:

Monday - BBQ steak with a creamy seafood sauce and BBQ vegies

Tuesday - Pumpkin Soup

Wednesday - Lamb in Crockpot

Thursday - Training

Friday - Fried Rice

Saturday - not sure if we’ll be home or not (something easy if we are)

Sunday - Pooled Tea @ Church (have “cheated” and bought pies and sausage rolls to take and heat up)

Note: For those who are “new” to my menu plans, I tend to plan the meat and add whatever vegies/salad we have or feel like.  Unless it’s something special and then I’ll actually include the vegies in the plan.

Can you believe it’s almost 9 weeks since I hurt my ankle playing netball?

Unfortunately, there is still quite a bit of pain and a little swelling.

Tuesday I went to see a different Physio.  One who specialises in back issues.  Limping around for 2 months has taken it’s toll on my back.

Apparently my back being out is also making my ankle quite weak.

And the problems with running are now more to do with tight calves now (hard to stretch when you can’t bend the ankle without pain).

HOWEVER, last Saturday I DID return to the netball court.

So much has been happening in our club of late.

We’ve been having lots of meetings to decide what to do about the future of our club.

Our numbers for senior football have been slowly dwindling.

Unfortunately, our junior numbers and senior netball numbers are good.

Still, we’ve decided that the best thing for the long term future of our club is to amalgamate with another nearby club.

I REALLY wanted to play netball last Saturday in case it was my last time to play in our club colours (new club, new colours next year).

I was only going to play a quarter or two as my fitness isn’t all that great after 8 weeks of not running.

But an injury meant I spent longer on the court than originally planned.

And thankfully, my foot and my fitness stood up to it okay.

And WE WON!!!!!

Which means we now are in the Preliminary Final (last Saturday was the 1st Semi).

So I get to play AGAIN in my old club colours. 

Hope my foot holds up okay this time.

How awesome would it be to go all the way to the Grand Final???

That would be kinda cool for our last year playing together in this club.

I’ve been shopping!!!!

Online shopping!!!!

At Inner-B.

They have the most beautiful organisers in Fuschia (one of my favourite colours!).

And at the moment they are on SALE!!!  (Yah!).

Partly because the year is almost half way over.

BUT you can buy refills each year for less than $10.

So $20 off is still a bargain!

Anyway, I digress.

What I really wanted to tell you about was the Magnetic Weekly Planner

I’m not sure the picture really does it justice BUT it is what I went there to buy when they mentioned a sale on them recently.

It sticks to the fridge and everyone can fill in their activities for the week (with a wipe off pen - although mine that came with it didn’t work ).

What’s more exciting than that though is the section I’m using for MENU PLANNING.

Remember that?

Menu planning?

That thing I used to do many moons ago which kept me organised and the grocery bills down?

Well, I haven’t been doing it.

But this week I HAVE!!!!

Oh yah!

And there’s a spot on the side for a shopping list.

And now all the kids can write, they can now add things to the list when we run low/out (instead of “oh mum, forgot to tell you we’re out of weetbix” on the day I’ve already been and done the shopping for the week).

No doubt you’re all hanging out to discover what boring things are on the menu this week???

Well, here you go:

THIS WEEK’S MENU PLAN

Monday - Vegemite Lamb Chops

Tuesday - Oven Baked Fish (not sure what I’m going to put on it yet)

Wednesday - T-Bone Steak

Thursday - Out at training (we usually buy “crap” for tea out there)

Friday - Chicken (most likely chicken breasts - haven’t decided how I want to cook these either)

Saturday - Finals game is at our club and I’m on teas so we will be having tea there (expensive week)

Sunday - Pumpkin Soup

Nothing too exciting but it’s a start at least.

Fingers crossed I keep up the planning longer than just a week!

There’s no doubt about it.

Parenting is a tough gig!

You show me someone who thinks it isn’t and I’ll show you someone living in la-la land.

Bringing up children to be well-adjusting, happy young adults is a tough ask.

Navigating the emotional turmoil of life, relationships, homework and education…. the list is never ending.

BUT, at the end of the day, our job as parents is NOT to be a child’s friend.

I’m not advocating a lack of mutual trust and constant bickering.

But at the end of the day, there are times when a parent needs to be the unpopular one.  Needs to say NO!

NO, you can’t have a facebook account before you turn 13.  I want to teach you to respect other peoples guidelines and NOT to become someone who will forge/lie their way to getting what they want.  I want to protect you from the possible dangers facebook can present (and we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t concede that facebook comes with it’s risks - at any age).

NO, you can’t watch M-rated shows at 13.  I don’t care if your whole class is watching them, they contain scenes you’re not ready to see (maybe not ever in some shows/movies).

NO, you can’t roam the streets with your mates.  No matter how good your kid is - get them in a “pack” and stuff starts happening.

NO, you can’t go to a party at a person’s house I don’t know.  Maybe it’s not YOU I don’t trust!

I could go on and on with this list.  None of the items are stand alone.  Some are “age appropriate” issues.  Do we really need to allow our children to “grow up” so young?

My point is that when we say “yes” when we really should say “no”, we do a disservice not only to our children, but to parents all around us.

Parenting is a tough enough gig as it is, us parents need to stick together!

Disclaimer: I in not way think I’m getting it “all right” when it comes to parenting.  I don’t even always say “no” to my children when I probably should stand firm.  But I AM getting so frustrated at feeling like I’m the “only one” making a stand at times (although I know I’m not really).

While Farmboy was climbing to the top of Ayers Rock, the kids and I drove around the other side and did a short walk to a Gorge that was marked on our map.

Fortunately for us, we were just behind a tour group and overheard the tour guide tell her group to turn around and have a look at this:

I doubt we would have noticed it otherwise.

Beautiful isn’t it?