Lightening Online

I don’t think I actually got around to posting some completed pics from our back verandah project.  So, here you are:

Front View of House:

This shows the front angle of the verandah up a little closer:

The stoney area to the bottom right of the picture is going to be paved (not sure whether pavers or slate yet) and turned into a bit of a potted garden area.  We’re also thinking of putting a small tank in here to make watering easy.  You can just see at the top that this section has no covering.  The plan is to grow grapevines over this section of give shade in summer and allow the winter sun to hit the lounge room window.

And this is the view from the “backyard” (our backyard is along the side of the house really).

We purchased a cheap dining setting from Kmart before Christmas and “Christened” the back deck by having our Christmas lunch out there.  It’s become a popular eating spot over summer (when the flies aren’t too bad).  It’s taken DH a little while to get the painting done but he’ll be glad it’s all done now that we’ve had so much rain (past couple of days have been very wet here).

It looks a bit different to this:

It’s almost hard to picture what it looked like before (thank goodness for photo’s!!!).  It’s really made a HUGE difference to the size of our house.  Basically we have a whole extra living area now.

NEXT PROJECT:

Most urgent is the paving of the area where the car goes.  The pavers are ordered and Farmboy just needs to pick them up and lay them (well, we need a Dingo here to dig the area out first).  After the rain we’ve had the past couple of days, all we have is a huge mud pit at the moment.

It all takes time (and money) but our house is slowly becoming more of a “home”. 

New Year’s Day is a day often filled with hope (and hangovers).  A New Year, a fresh start.  A reason to celebrate the opportunity that is offered by the beginning of a New Year.

What colours will be painted on the canvas of 2010?  Joy.  Love.  Pain.  Sadness.  The emotions both positive and negative are what makes up the brilliant colours painted on the canvas of life.

Whether we like it or not, difficult times are character building and make up an important part of our life painting.  Yes, at the time we’d rather be anywhere but there.  But on reflection, those difficulties can be character and strength building if we will allow them to.

Am I setting myself up for a difficult year?  I hope not.  But I will admit that it’s concerned me how many people have been eager to see 2009 disappear and embrace the hope of 2010.  People who really feel 2009 was the worst year ever.  At times we really do have years that are more difficult than others.  Sometimes though, I think it is what we focus on that affects our perception of how bad things really have been.  I can’t help but wonder how many of those will say the same thing at the end of 2010?

Of course, that’s easy for me to say.  2009 was a particularly wonderful year for us.  How could it not be when we spent a quarter of it on our big trip? 

Still, I have hope that 2010 will be just as wonderful, in a different way.

I’m generally not one to make New Years Resolutions.  However, I do like to take a moment to consider what my goals and dreams are for the New Year.

2010 Goals and Dreams

House

1.  Continue to declutter (I think that’s a never ending job!)

2.  Paint all of the inside walls (with the exception of the 1 room I actually managed to get done in 2009)

3.  Finish our back decking (it’s not far off now)

Garden

1.  Build our permaculture style vegie garden

2.  Plant 2 or 3 more fruit trees

3.  Buy 2 large pots for dwarf lemon and dwarf mandarin trees

Health

1.  Continue to exercise.  Aim for 6 sessions per week of 30-60 minutes duration

2.  Focus on healthy eating

3.  Try to shed 10kg slowly

Kids

1.  Continue involvement with P&F at school

2.  Holiday swimming lessons during the year (given we’re missing the January ones)

3. Continue to develop Lleyton’s passion and ability with tennis (have finally got him into a week long clinic in Adelaide to help develop and refine his skills)

4.  Go away in the caravan at least twice during the year

Finances

1.  Work on gradually curbing our current spending spree

2.  Save $2000 toward our planned 15th Anniversary cruise

3.  Continue to save toward a new laptop for myself

4.  Increase our acreage to earn money for our house renovation projects (means I’ll be doing a lot more hours this year - effectively making me a working mother)

That’s about all I can think of for now.  No doubt 2010 will be filled with unexpected surprises and challenges.  All I can say is “bring it one”. 

Happy New Year everyone.  Hope 2010 is everything you  hope for and more!

P.S.  I actually wrote this on New Years Day but forgot to hit publish.  DOH!!!

I have numerous post ideas rolling around in my head at the moment and just can’t seem to get them out on the screen.  So, instead, I’ll post about how HOT it is.  Because, really, we all need to read another post complaining about the heatwave don’t we????  LOL

And, if I was smart (which I’m clearly not), I wouldn’t be sitting here typing this right now.  I would be rushing around like a madwoman trying to get the days tasks done before it gets even hotter.

However, our wireless modem thingy has decided to go to sleep for a little while (who can blame it in this heat?) and I don’t want to be stuck in the HOT office later trying to get my melting brain into gear writing another blog post (which have been a bit thin on the ground lately - particularly on my other blogs - I blame the “post trip” jelly brain).

So, my question (yes, I’m eventually going to get to my point and stop saying the word HOT over and over again), is how do you cope with the heat?

Do you continue on as “usual” getting stuff done?

Do you melt into a blob while the house disintegrates around you?

Do you get up at the sparrows fart and get all energised and get everything done before the sun has barely hit the sky? (one day I’m actually going to try this….one day…..)

And while I’m at it with all these questions…

Will someone please reassure me that if I keep getting rid of clutter, a bit at a time, I will eventually find light at the end of the very black “clutter tunnel”?????  I feel like I’ve been decluttering for weeks now with no end in sight.  WHY do we have to accumulate so much stuff?  And why is it so hard to part with?????

And what category do I put this post under?  And does anyone even care anyway????

*sigh*

I better go vacuum the lounge before it turns into a sauna in there!!!!!

Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement after my last post.  Things are going better now that they’re not quite so busy.  And I’m making some decisions about what I am and am not going out to.  Not always easy but obviously necessary.

I’ve had a horribly sore throat on and off for about 6 weeks now and I imagine that’s not helping (my body trying to fight something).  I feel kind of silly that I haven’t gone to the doctor but it’s one of those that seems to get better and then all of a sudden flares up again.

In my energetic moments, I am finding the decluttering bug has stayed with me (yah!).  Normally I’m a bit of a “hoarder” but when we got back after living in the caravan for 3 months, I found myself a little overwhelmed with how much “stuff” we have.  I will admit that I’m getting used to it but I’m relieved to find that the desire to get rid of stuff hasn’t waned completely.

Farmboy has gotten the “bug” too and finally decluttered a heap of clothes he is NEVER going to use.  Stuff he has kept for “farm clothes” that sits in his drawers while his other clothes get worn until they fall to pieces.

It’s scary how much stuff has left our house in the past 2 weeks and yet you cannot see where it has come from.

I think I’ve done a lot of the “easier” stuff now.  Hopefully I can continue with the “bug” and do some of the “hard” stuff.  The stuff we “might” actually use but could we do without it.  I still think we have too much stuff and would like to cut back a little.

My particular focus between now and Christmas will be toys.  Something I LOVE and so find incredibly hard to give away.  But the amount of toys we have is a little ridiculous and there are only so many that the kids can really play with.  I’m hoping there’ll be a charity toy drive in the lead up to Christmas.  I think it would help to think they might be going someplace where they might still get played with.

What about you?  Are you a declutterer or a hoarder?  Anyone else trying to “pare back” at the moment?

After a massive baking session yesterday, I think I might be all “cooked out”.

I started the day with the jelly cups, knowing that they would take all day by the time each colour set, ready to add the next colour.  I made 31 in total.  30 to take to the kidz klub sleepover we’re helping with tonight and 1 for Trailer Boy who is too young to go to the sleepover.

I couldn’t believe that I ended up using 11 packets of jelly!  So 5.5Litres of jelly!!!!  Sounds like a LOT of jelly to me!  And the cups aren’t even full (which is fine because they’re yet to have a chocolate frog and a scoop of ice cream added to them).

Here’s the final product:

I made 2 batches of soy & linseed knots rolls in an effort to use up my breadmix before we go.  I think I have enough left for 1 more batch which I’ll try and make next week.  I make the dough for these in the breadmaker (takes 2.5 hours) then shape into the rolls.

Generally I only have time to do 1 batch in a day but I got started in reasonable time so just scraped 2 lots in before having to head off to training.

I’ve been researching different recipes of late in an attempt to use up some things that aren’t getting touched.  Rice Bubbles was one such thing.  So, I found this Honey Bubble Crunch recipe and have been playing around with it.

The first batch I made (Wednesday), I topped with melted chocolate/butter.  Yummo!!!

Then, I had used up my chocolate, so when I made another batch yesterday, I put sprinkles on top instead.

I also made a batch of cupcakes for supper tonight:

Then realised that I’d done nearly all my baking for other stuff and should make *something* for us.  So, I made these white choc and macadamia biscuits:

I think I’m finally getting there with using up ingredients in the cupboard.  Not that I don’t still have quite a bit there but the bits and pieces and opened packets are now mostly used up.

I did spend a bit of time yesterday while I was in the kitchen just sorting the cupboard out and putting a few things into airtight containers that are normally just sitting in open packets.

I guess it’ll be my last “baking day” before we head off.  I may bake a few bits and pieces next week but not a big day like this one was.

Time seems to be flying by.  I have no doubt that before we know it, it’ll be time to leave.

Of course, for the kids, it’s dragging on.  Trailer Boy keeps asking how many more sleeps.  When I tried to explain to him 30 more sleeps, he thought I meant 3 and got all excited.  LOL.  The poor kid must feel like it’s taking forever to get here.

I’m now up to week 6 of my week “get the house sorted before we go” rotation.

Last Week

I didn’t really achieve much at all.  We did finish getting the seed in the ground so that’s one thing to tick off the list.

By the time I drove the tractor Monday and Tuesday and went out almost every day this past week for one reason or another, it was hard enough to keep up with the basics, let alone any extra stuff.

Plus, sickness has entered our home again.  I came down with a cold on Thursday.  Farmboy came down with it Friday.  Saturday the 2 boys came down with their own varieties (one with croup and the other with tonsilitis).

I did, however, manage to get rid of a large bag of books and toys early in the week.  The toy cupboard hasn’t been completely sorted but it’s better than it was.  I have done the book cupboard but whether or not it remains “done” until we go is another matter entirely.

This Week

The focus this week is the office.

Our most feral room in the house.

For a couple of reasons:

1.  There’s no need for visitors to go in there.  I can shut the door and not have to worry too much about it.

2.  The amount of paperwork that comes through this house is phenomenal.  The post office has indicated that farmers get more mail than most of the businesses in town.

Plus, the fact that I HATE sorting paperwork and sometimes use it as a dumping ground for stuff I don’t know where to put certainly doesn’t help either!!!!

I’m not too worried if I don’t get it looking wonderful but I would like to get it somewhat “presentable”.

So, my goal this week is to spend 2×15 minute sessions a day in there Mon-Thurs.

We have a big family weekend coming up over the long weekend so I suspect that Friday I’ll be busy with everything I need to get done for that.

Surely, though, 2 hours (which is 30 mins times 4 days) should put a reasonable dent into it.

Keep an eye out for my post next Monday which goes on about how busy my week was, how I had sick kids and a party to plan for and didn’t get anything done! 

Last night over dinner, we were discussing how many weeks we have left until we go.  Two of the kids guessed 6 weeks and 1 guessed 7.  While I thought it was just over 6 weeks, I went to the calendar to count and check.

I counted 3 times and could still only find 5 and a half weeks until we left.   Which totally mucks up my perfect 9 and a half week plan I devised.

After muttering “this doesn’t make sense, I’ve lost a week”, Farmboy decided to check out the calendar himself.

He found my lost week.  Bless him. 

I was counting by Sundays and the 31st was at the top of the month (as calendars sometimes do) so I was not counting that week.

PHEW!!!!

Panic stations off.

My “perfect” plan is still intact.  LOL.

And so, I am now up to the start of the second rotation.  I’m really pleased with how the house is starting to look after each “zone” has had 1 pass through.  Particularly given the fact that I’ve been driving the tractor and dealing with sick kids in the past couple of weeks.  Of course, a lot of it is the culmination of last terms decluttering efforts finally showing.

Last Week

The only thing I didn’t get done in the laundry was to sort and declutter the linen cupboard.  It does need doing but if I don’t get it done before we go away, it’s not really going to matter.  So, if I get to it in another week, I do.  If not, that’s okay.

Now all I need to do with the laundry is maintain it.  Sounds easy but isn’t when it’s such a busy room in the house.  Still, I’ll give it my best shot.  As it falls into the 3rd week of my zone rotation, I’ll be able to give it a “once-over” in the week before we leave if need be.

This Week’s “Zone” : Bedrooms

Last time I was in the bedroom zone, I focused on under and behind the boys beds.

This week I want to focus on under our bed and decluttering our wardrobe.  I won’t get too carried away but even a little will make things a little tidier.

Singstar Princess decided she wanted to change her room around on the weekend.  I cringed because she made a HUGE mess in the process.  And she’s wont to get halfway through a project like this and run out of puff.

This is what her room looked like just after she’d started:

It was actually tidy BEFORE she started but she decided to drag everything into the middle, out from under the bed and clear off her tallboy and bedside cupboard.  To her credit, she cleaned and sorted and tidied and arranged until eventually the room looked like this:

It’s not as streamlined as I had it but it’s her room so I’m happy for her to set it up how she likes it.

The main thing is that under her bed has now been sorted and cleaned so that’s another job I can tick off the list.

The other job I’d like to get to is decluttering some of the boys toys in their wardrobes.  But we’ll see how the week pans out and whether or not I get that far.

Anyway, best I get off the computer and get started. 

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.

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.

I’ll admit it, I’m a bit of a clutterbug.  I tend to worry that if I get rid of something, I might decide I needed it after all.  Not that I’d ever be able to find it if I did need it!!!  Combine that with a natural penchant to procrastinate on tasks I don’t enjoy (such as decluttering) and you can have one big recipe for disaster.

A number of years ago, I stumbled upon Flylady and that system worked for me for a while.  Then I got pregnant which left me tired, sick (I get sick all the way through my pregnancies) and ended up with post natal depression (which I actually think started during my pregnancy) and 3 kids.

Moving house helped me deal with a fair amount of clutter but we’ve been here for 4 years now and with everything else that has happened in my life, dealing with clutter has gone to the bottom of the priority list.

My goal last term was to go through and declutter the entire house.  Ha!!!!  I’m so good at setting myself unachievable goals!!!  :(  Sure, we got rid of quite a bit of stuff.  Just NOT.  ENOUGH.

On Sunday my frustration with clutter reached it’s peak.  We had a busy school holidays and the house was a disaster zone!  Staring down the barrel of Term 2 starting and realising that half my plans for term 1 just hadn’t happened and that I only have this term left to get the house to the point where I’m happy for someone else to stay in it in my absence.

*sigh*

Of course, there’s nothing like a deadline to help a procrastinator get their butt into gear. 

I’ve decided that for every week this term (what’s left of it given we leave before it actually finishes - eeek!!!), I’m going to set myself a focus/goal.

This week’s is bedrooms.

They get tidied every week but there’s tidy and there’s “tidy” if you know what I mean.

In a marked act of bravery yesterday, I actually ventured UNDER the boys beds!!!!  I found some interesting science experiments and the dust bunnies were multiplying happily!!!!

I think the hardest thing about being a “clutterbug” myself is that I can hardly expect my children to be any different.  And they’re not.  They’re hopeless at getting rid of stuff.  And then when they do decided to get rid of something, it’s something I don’t want to get rid of.  LOL.

Is it any wonder we’re struggling to conquer the clutter monster???? 

The good news is, we don’t have a very large house so we HAVE to get rid of stuff from time to time.

More stuff has been leaving this house than has been entering it of late so SURELY we have to start seeing the difference soon!!!!

If we don’t, I might just sit down and cry.  LOL.