You will not conquer me.

I have a fear...that's not quite the right word, but it'll do, of the telephone. Not of it ringing, but of me calling people, talking to them.

Now, part of it stems from being hearing impaired. But to hide behind this is a bit of a cop out. It's more.

Some days I'm fine. I'll make a stream of calls. But other days, I procrastinate and avoid even making simple calls (like making appointments).

And then days where i'll hold the phone, write out scripts, give myself prep talks and procrastinate on pinterest looking for images depicting inspiring quotes to boost my confidence.

Meh.

I know it's part of a broader 'socially anxious and somewhat socially awkward' personality I have.
At times it impacts on my life. Lost friends, lost hours, lost opportunities.

In face to face situations I get by. But the phone.....oh my do I hate the phone.

And now I have a job that requires regular phone usage. I'm also co-running a business which also requires using the phone.

This will not conquer me.

All Clear, See You Next Year

Well Australian Hearing services won't be seeing the girls until next year.

Zoë continues to have perfect hearing, the only one of my four children that didn't inherit my bad hearing.

Lily has no change (yay!). She only has a mild loss in one ear, no need for aids for her.

My boys will go for a check up in November, and hopefully both will have no further decline in hearing. Both have a hearing loss in both ears which they wear hearing aids.

Pic is of my girls enjoying the train trip home. :)

Life Goes On

So I decided to pull out of TAFE. I'll just be concentrating on my new (part-time) job, my little business and more importantly, being a SAHM.

I'm disappointed. But on the other hand, relieved. I really enjoyed the last two weeks, interacting with grown ups and using my brain/creativity/skills. But the stress of money, the stress of household chores and the stress of not seeing/being there for my babies just didn't make it worth it.

So now I'll only be out of the house one day per week, my little boy will be in daycare on that day and my big kids won't need to go to before/after school care.

On friday and saturday I contemplated what I was going to do, I kept changing my mind. I'm a 'look for signs' kind of person and on Sunday I had a few. Firstly in The Sunday Times was an article about parents needing to make more time for their kids, to not put so much emphasis on material wealth, to be more involved in their schooling.

Then in the liftout magazine was an article on Free Range kids.

Both articles resonated with me because to be the type of parent I want to be, to type of parent I value, I can't achieve if I'm not at home to be with them. I just can't have my cake and eat it too.

Then the deciding factor was the sermon at church. It was the story of Samson and Delilah, but it was the points made by my Pastor that resonated with me. That our strength can also be our weakness. My Pastor spoke about balance, that we all need balance, and he also spoke about failure.

All this was in relation to the Samson story, but I could see the applications in my life at this moment.

So this morning, I dropped my kids off at school. I spoke to my daughters teacher. I held hands with my son as we strolled to the car. I'm sitting on the lounge, cuddling my youngest son, listening to the rain, while he watches Postman Pat and I type on the laptop.

Life may not have taken the direction I had thought it would (looking back on my dreams and hopes), I may be impatient for it to be 'my time', but on the whole I am happy.

Life

My Sweet Baby Girl

What a hectic fortnight I've had.

I started a TAFE course, started a part-time job, trying to get stock ready for a stall and the kids went back to school.

I really want to do the TAFE course...it's only 18 weeks more to go....but the impact on my kids is already noticeable. My 5 year old threw a tantrum yesterday, she never throws tantrums, and I know it was from overtiredness/early starts/not enough attention from me. My 3 year old gets all whingey (it's not really crying), as we pull into daycare, telling me he doesn't want to go.

My big kids are mostly ok, they are a little older and a little more independent. But the long days do affect them.

The house is rapidly turning into a tip. I have my routines in place, but I'm still doing all the housework, the kids help out, but my husband doesn't. It's not to bad, but I'm finding it hard to keep on top of things.

Then the cost. Daycare/After school care is costing me around $200 per week. I budgeted this in, then had unexpected expenses, and now the budget can't cover the care costs.

So I find myself wondering if it is worth it. I like being busy and active, but I don't like my family life to have such a hectic pace. And although I love the course, I don't really want to work in the field long term. The true cost of the course at this stage is draining.

On one hand I think I know what I need to do, but on the other hand........I really wish I had parents that I could go to and seek advice :(

It makes me smile

Came across Poppy, Bean and Bloss, what a delightful blog, anyway she has posted what is making her smile so I thought I would join in. :)

This little guy. He's three tomorrow! My last baby is rapidly leaving toddlerhood, this kind of makes me sad, but relieved as well. He's a handful, and he lives up to his name Cadel, which means warrior spirit. He is full of spirit and already showing signs of a wicked sense of humour (and I mean wicked, he has a fondness for playing pranks already!)

Speaking of Cadel, watching Cadel Evans makes me smile. I don't follow any sport in any way, shape or form, but if an Aussie is looking like they have a chance, then I do my patriotic duty and cheer him on.

And yes, I was heavily pregnant, hormone affected, watching Tour De France, three years ago.....hence my sons name. This always makes me smile!

Oh and I found out the other day the job I went for....I got it! It's part time, with the potential of taking full time, part of which I can work from home. This definitely makes me smile.

I start a TAFE course next week, this makes me smile. And the kids go back to school, I love school holidays, but going back to a regular routine....this makes me smile.

What makes you smile?

Things (my) Kids Say

Mr soon-to-be 3: If a dinosaur comes into my room and does a poo I'm going whack him like this (demonstrates whacking).

Dinosaurs let it be said, you have been warned.

Because I'm Worth It

(also known as Operation Bunker Bay)

I am so proud of myself this week! I have done 1 aeirobics class and 4 x 1hour gym workouts this week!!

I am hating the exercising, one of those gym sessions I had to really drag myself down, force myself on the machines and plays lots of happy music on my iPod to get me going. But I made it!

I haven't got an exercise scheldule. I've come to the conclusion I may not be able to scheldule in gym sessions with any consistancy. But that is ok, as long as I'm going, it doesn't matter so much if I don't do it at a certain time on particular days.

This weeks exercise goals are

*head to the gym 5 times

*push myself a little harder in the cardio bit. At the moment I do roughly 5min x-trainer/15min treadmill/5 min bike. I would like to increase the x-trainer because I think it gives me a better workout.

Food wise is going good. It helps that money is so tight at the moment! I’m eating more fruit and vegetables and also made an effort to decrease my meat consumption. This is a financial/ethical consideration as well, but will have positive health implications as well.

My food goals this week are

*Increase water

*Make an effort to snack between midday and 3pm. I find 4pm hits and I’m so lethargic and bleh as well as ravenous.

Looking Good Feeling Good.

I’ve been having a bit of fun with Pinterest this week, pinning all sorts of pics for inspiration. Several of those pins have been hair tutorials, of which I’ve been practicing on myself and also on my daughters.

I’ve also pinned some pics of outfits I want to copy.

My Pinterest profile name is lelacass if you want to join in the fun

I live in a town that has a bad 'rep'. For years it has been labelled as boganville, low socio-economic, high crime, low prospects etc etc.

Several of these labels are actually incorrect/unfairly distorted in my opinion.

But you know what? I hope the ignorant stay ignorant.

They don't know what they are missing out on. ;)

Saving Money. Making Money

It's common sense that the key elements of finacial freedom make up a  3 pronged approach.

Reduce Debt
Make Money
Save Money

Now reducing debt is closely entwined with making and saving money, but is deserving of it's own strategy of attack.

So what am I rambling on about. Well I've been totally inspired by        Kylie Ofiu who is aspiring to be a millionaire (cash and/or assets) by 30. I would love to be finacially free, so I've started pitting some of her thoughts and ideas into practice. 

Firstly I opened a high interest bank account and set up a direct debit. It's only $5 a week, but it is a start. 

I've drawn up another budget. This time I used an Excel spreadsheet that allows me to enter a months income/expenses. The single most important money tip (from my readings and experience) is to manage you finances with a budget.
I've brainstormed some money making ideas. Some a short term, some fit in the grand plan. One idea I'm really excited lover is 'The Rusty Geranium'. I'll do a proper blog post on it later, but basically I've started raising a variety of seeds with the view of selling excess stock over spring/summer.

Another area I'm homing in on is saving money. I've disconnected the landlind (saving about $700), I'm menu planning again (this saves a fair bit, my estimate is about $200 a month gets wasted when I don't menu plan). I've devised a plan to get solar hot water installed, thus saving on my energy bills.

Allow the saved $ at the moment are going into reducing debt and only a tiny bit into savings.

I've also pencilled in reminders into my organiser to spend time on this. Time is now set aside for budget, menu and income planning.

The $100 Christmas is also part of this plan.

It all feels refreshing and empowering. I might not get to a million dollars, but I'm giving it a go.

Operation Bunker Bay

My husband and his colleagues have made the target of something or another at his work. This is great and really important I'm sure (eyes were glazed over when he was telling me the details). As a reward, the company has booked two nights away for all the supervisors (that's what he is) and their partners, including dinner on the friday and a tour of the wineries on the saturday.

When I first heard, I thought this was great, I had vaguely heard of Bunker Bay. Then I looked it up online.

Oh my. It's a 5 star get away. I'm not a 5 star getaway type person. I don't dress for 5 star getaways. I don't even dress for winery tours.

I'm worried. I have 8 weeks to get it together. Which brings me to my blog title, Operation Bunker Bay. I'm going to do an 8 week overhaul with the goal of looking and feeling confident about myself, confident enough to fit in among the other WAGS.

So if that is my overarching goal, my more specific goals are:

*Have 3 different hairstyles that I can do myself over this weekend.

*Have a make up 'look' that I can confidently apply.

*Have several different outfits that are suitable for each outing.

*Make sure my eyebrows are neat, eyelashes sparkle and maybe are fingernails gleaming.

*Restart my exercise and eating regime and loose 6 kgs in 8 weeks. This is perhaps a little ambitious, if I don't reach this, but I'm following healthy eating/exercising, I'll be happy.

After 8 weeks I don't want to stop. Because 4 weeks later, my sister is hoping on getting married and I'm one of her bridesmaids (although I have a feeling she might reschedule), then 4 weeks after that, it is my birthday and I would love to buy myself a great dress and look hot, then 4 weeks later is christmas and again, I wouldn't mind looking hot over the christmas festivities. ;)

So this is my plan of action:

*Youtube. Lots of great people have posted hair and makeup tutorials, my plan is to have a play and experiment with different looks. In 4 weeks I would like to book in for a hair cut (long overdue, my last cut was about 18months ago)

*Collect ideas from fashion blogs and from watching Offspring (tragic, but I love Nina's style). Disect the outfits then recreate out of things I own/can get hold of. Some pieces I can make too.

*I'm already booked in for a beauty treatment because I bought a cheap voucher from scoupon. That is next month. When I'm there I'll book in for another session about a week or so before THE weekend.

*Exercise program has started. I've started Burlesque dance classes (this is more of a reward, they are so much fun, if I grit my teeth and just attend the gym, then my reward is Burlesque classes).

I want to restart the 'Because I'm Worth It' weekly posting, because although my first deadline is Bunker Bay, I want this to be longer term. So stay tuned!

Holiday Wish List

It's school holidays for the kids in WA. Yay!

This is our wish list of things we want to do. We probably won't make it through all of it, but even if we do half, it'll be fun.

1. Dinosaur exhibit at Perth Museum My youngest son is really into dinosaurs at the moment.

2. Telling Tales Story Telling Festival. This is more for the older two to enjoy. It's only $5 per child and the program looks great.

3. Picnic at Golden Valley Tree Park. The kids are all looking forward to this. The park has walk trails and lots of space to run and wander in.

4. Pinnochio, the play. My daughter has a classmate who has a role in this play. I thought it would be nice to go along and support her. :)

5. Movies.

Plus trips to the library, visit the scitech thing at the shops, spend time with cousins, some cooking (got some chocolate brownie slice in my near future) and a trip or two to the beach for some winter beach combing.

Xmas Planning

Each year a small part of the christmas gift list is made up of handmade or cheap/2nd hand gifts for my kids and to a lesser extent, my children. This year I want to make it a bigger part, but more importantly, I want to rein in the spending and make it a more financially responsible time.

Now this $100 is everything. Kids, family, friends and the food. Sounds pretty impossible hey. I don't think I'll be able to keep it under $100, but I do have some advantages to help. I'm not hosting christmas lunch this year, so I'll only have to contribute a plate of something. Also my kids are happy with second hand/thrifted stuff and appreciate cool and unique things. They do like big ticket items, but they are also happy with the small things in life. As for family, I do have 5 nephews and 1 niece, but I only have to buy for 4 adults, as we only exchange gifts with the adults on my in-laws side of the family. Another advantage is my extensive fabric collection. If I can make it from fabric, chances are, I can make it cheap/free.

I know from experience that it takes a lot more planning and effort to do these sort of things so I'm making up a list with links and ideas to help me along the way.

My Kids

Dylan aged 10

Lego. Can be obtained second hand.

DS cover and game holder.

Cadel aged 3

Cool little belts, this would be good for the girls too.

Bike. Thinking gumtree or ebay for a cheap but good condition bike. If I can get one this bike basket would be cool.

Lilian aged 8

Zoe aged 5

Nephews and a Niece

Rhylie aged 6

Art caddy/tote I have a binding machine and lots of scrapbooking papers. I can make him some sketchbooks. I can also sharpen up the kids leftover pencils (we always end up with hundreds) from the end of the school year and put these in the caddy.

Evelyn aged 2

Dolls clothes. I'm pretty sure she has a baby born, and I have patterns for baby born doll clothes.

Cooper aged 4

Lochie aged 2

Dragon Slippers

Angus aged 1

Michael aged nearly 1

In Laws

MIL Water bottle holder

FIL

SIL Water bottle holder and Cute Scarf

BIL I'm thinking coffee cup cozy? with a good quality thermos cup as well?

Home Decor

Tree, we already have a base for a 'once was alive' tree. The tree we get erm ahh.... free from my kind brother in law....in an undercover mission to the pine plantation.......well not really the pine plantation itself, my BIL relocates a tree from the side of the road... a tree that has sprouted from seed or something.....he assures me it is not from the plantation....and it is so scrawny and bent, I believe him.

Tree decorations are ones we have accumulated over the years.

Would love to add a christmas tree bunting and some table runners to my home decor

Last year we did a advent calender with each day a challenge to give. We got ideas from 25 days of giving but more ideas here I want to expand on this and make an improved calender system. Perhaps something like these felt pockets

Phew, that's enough brainstorming for now.

My Creative Space

I love the style of the character of Nina Proudman (Offspring, channel ten). Very much in love. I was very suprised to find that most of her clothes cost a fortune. Considering her style looks like op shop/market finds, it took me by suprise that one of the skirts she wears is around $199.

So my creative space this week is dominated by 'what would Nina wear' sort of wonderings. Nina wears a lot of tiered and circle skirts, matched with funky belts. I picked up this cotton fabric at Spotlight for $4 per metre, and aimed with my Sew What! Skirts book I'm aiming for a Nina type skirt.

I'm not sure if I've chosen the right fabric print to pull off the look, but it's a pretty print anyway.

You can see more creative spaces or add your link here.

2020 here I come!!! or How I dream Big

I think we all should dream big. Small dreams are good and essential for keeping you motivated, but I think we should all have a big dream to hope for. If you ever get to that goal, achieve that big dream....well I don't think that is quite as important. The important part is the dreaming.

My big dream is to go on a world trip with my close friend in 2020. Why 2020? Well it's going to take that long to save up! But also our babies will be older and (we hope) sufficient enough in life skills that we can leave them behind and have a bit of fun.

A few weeks ago, we decided the achievement of this dream really is important, so important that we opened a high interest savings account, set up direct debits and got started. We have both been been going through/continuing to go through intense personal upheavals in our lives, and we both need this big dream to strive for.

So far we are really having fun with it. So much fun, that we have started a blog Two Mummy Ducks to catalogue our saving adventures, but also our adventures practicing being eccentric traveling ladies! If nothing else, I'm sure our grandchildren will get a kick out of reading it in decades to come!

Our first 'outing' as eccentric travelling ladies is to "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)", of which I've heard great things about. I'm really looking forward to it (it's next week). :)

I'll leave you with a video collage I made a few years ago. I play this when I'm feeling sad and need a boost. Seeing my babies makes me happy, and the song I put to it makes me hopeful :)

(It's Dream Big by Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband)

5 Reasons YOU need to Get Some Chooks.

My Girls.

1. Chooks Reduce the amount of Garbage you put in Landfill

I could have been gardening god Josh Byrne (and my what a god...I have a celeb-crush on Josh) or perhaps gardening goddess Sabrina Hahn that said something along the lines of "if local councils were serious about landfill they would make it easier for homeowners to keep chooks". Or something along those lines.

And my goodness, whoever said it, was right. Chooks are natural scavengers. They love the cold mushed up weetbix left over from breakfast and your kids don't like crust?, no problems, chooks love them. I have 4 chooks. I think this is a good number for us. We produce enough scraps to feed the chooks, with layers pellets to supplement should the girls get a bit peckish.

I could go on and on about this point alone. Did you know that food waste in land fill is the number 2 producer of methane and that 38% of our garbage is food waste. Shamefull hey. Because food waste needs oxygen to decompose and in in landfill it gets buried, methane is produced. Methane is not so good for the environment. Yet, a simple and practical solution would be backyard chickens.

2. Eggs!

Fresh, produced in a happy environment, yummy scrummy eggs. And even when you factor in buying a chook and the layer pellets, they still work out cheaper than store bought eggs. This blog post from Leanne Daharja @ Hazeltree Farm shows you just how cost effective chickens are :)

3. They add character and warmth.

Even if your not an animal person, hearing the chickens bok and cluck is joyful. Mine see me at the back door and come running to the gate to see if I have any scraps. I love them :)

4. They contribute tothe gardens too.

They don't just produce eggs. They can be very much part of the garden cycle as well. I heap hay, weeds and grass clippings into my chook run in a deep litter style way. The chooks scratch and poop and general turn everything about. When it starts to look like it needs a clean out, I rake it all out and place in the garden and some in compost bins. Chicken poop can be quite strong, so when I clean this out (it tends to build up where they sleep), I pop it into the compost to break down some more. This all adds nutrients to the gardens, the garden produces nutritious food for the humans, the scraps go back to the chooks and it is one big happy cycle.

Just a couple of notes. Some plants and weeds are poisonous, obviously don't include these, or your chickens will be at the end of the cycle of life prematurely.

Also weeds may not die straight away. That is why they are weeds. Transfering them to the garden bed may give them a new lease on life. If in doubt leave in the coop longer, so the chooks can turn and scratch some more.

5.Chooks are an educational experience.

I'm not a fan of the "get a pet to teach responsibility". It's a bit nonsense if you ask me. However chooks can provide an array of teaching opportunities for your kids. You have basic animal care, where eggs come from, food cycles, waste cycles, life cycles, bi-cycles....nah just joking.

Eggs can lead to cooking lessons, scraps can lead to lessons in healthy eating (don't want the chooks to eat bad food).

Don't have kids that need educating? Well share your eggs with your neighbors. Educate them!

So what are you waiting for...go get some chooks.

8 Random Things About Me

I'm linking up to Stacey's 'linky uppy thingy boppy' and sharing 8 random things about me.

1. Tea. Love it. Some days I go on a bender and all I seem to be drinking is tea. But you can always count on me having a cuppa first thing in the morning and just before I go to bed.

2. I was 28 when I was baptized, along with my 4 children. 5 Baptisms all at once, I'm sure we made a great contribution to the church stats for that year ;) hehe

3. I've lived out of home since I was 16.

4. I have one incomplete degree, one incomplete TAFE certificate. I've just applied for another TAFE certificate.......(actually I'm waiting on news on my acceptance, should know by 24th June).

5. With the exception of working in the South of WA for 8 months when I was 18, I have lived in my town by the sea for 31 years now. My feet are beginning to itch though.....

6. When people tailgate and try and pressure me to speed over the speed limit, I slow down to about 5 under the posted speed limit. I consider this my community service, stopping tailgaters from getting speeding fines or getting into accidents. I'm probably not doing anything for their heart health...

7. I'm hearing impaired. Most people wouldn't know unless told. I can lip read well enough to get by. But I get really self-conscious about what I can't hear and I don't cope well in large social situations, I get all shy. I'm too poor to replace my hearing aids (they cost a lot).

8. I have quite a funny sense of humor, a bit on the sarcasm side, but funny none the less. The angrier I get the more silly my humor can be.

You can read more or play along too by going to Stacey's blog post and linking up. :)

Mummy Daughter Date

My daughter has been nagging for a few weeks to go to the Quilt and Craft Fair in Perth this week. Now I'm a crafty person and you would think I would love these things. And don't get me wrong, I like going to them....but $22 for myself and my daughter to get in...ouch. And I find that the majority of the stalls are the same stalls that were there last year. And the year before that.
Anyhow I digress.

My daughter had a good time. We ended up strolling through the city, and popped over to the Made on the Left pop up market. Not much was going on, only about 8 stalls.

Then we decided to do some sight seeing. Perth doesn't have a huge amount of stuff to see and look at, but nonetheless, still has some gems.

Photos are of us being goofs and a quote at London courts.

My Creative Space

Is running a little late, I think it's still Thursday somewhere in the world??

This week I have been doing lots of sewing. More long sleeve hoodies, beanies and a coat for me. But today I'm cutting out bias strips to make bunting flags. For christmas last year I bought myself a simplicity bias binder. What a nifty little machine this is, wind the cut strips on the spool and it will run through the machine and fold and iron it for you. Very cool. My only complaint is my machine gives off a really strong smell. It smells even when the machine is off.

More creative goodness can be found here.

Pleated Skirts for My Girls

Pattern: Prep School Pleated Skirt by Little Lizard King

Fabrics: Red and Cherry Corduroy and cotton print from Crafty Mamas, burgundy cord from Spotlight.

Pattern Alterations: I added length on the burgundy skirt, my daughter likes them knee length. I also made it so it sits differently at the front, like a solid panel.

Pattern Comments: Easy pattern to follow. I got a bit confused by the elasic bit, but then I hadn't done it like this before. I'll probably use this method of enclosing the elastic again. Sizing is 1y-10y and measurements for a 18"doll too. After making two skirts, I'm confident in being able to measure up a skirt for any size.

I really like this pattern. The skirt comes together well and the instructions are well presented with lots of pictures. I can see more of these skirts being made for my daughters. :)

More on Breadmaking

Oh Belinda I spoke too soon!

The day after my previous post, I loaded up my breadmaker, pressed all the buttons and left it to make dough. Unfortunately the machine was sitting to close to the edge of the bench and during kneading it fell off the bench. The lid cracked and it couldn't be closed properly.

I recieved the breadmaker for my 19th birthday preasant, I'm now 31, so I have got a good number of years out it. But I was still disappointed.

Anyway, on the bright side, my making bread by hand is steadily getting better. Getting the bread to rise sufficiently has been a problem. It takes several hours and the dough is still not that well risen. The inside of my house is too cold, and I live in a coastal town, so although the sun is nice and warm, the wind has a cooling effect on the dough. Not good.

I read on another blog that placing a cup of water in the microwave, then zapping it to boil the water, then placing the dough in the microwave can work. And it does! The steam from the water combined with the contained space, creates a nice warm environment for the dough.

Hmm, I'm off to make bread ;)

Bread Making

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this bread making thing. I little while ago I set the lofty goal of baking my own bread everyday, then proceeded to make some pretty dismal loaves....5kg of flour later and I think I might be getting it right.

I'm using the recipie from Rhonda over at Down to Earth blog, (i'll add the link in later, not sure how to do it on my phone), with some changes. Firstly, I'm using more yeast that Rhonda. I started of with yeast that is not foil packed and in the stated amounts. The dough was heavy, difficult to kneading and slow to rise. The loaves were too dense, even the chooks weren't that into them.

So then I changed the yeast brand. It helped, but the loaves were still far to dense. So I increased the yeast amount to a while sachet, which I think is 7g. At this point I decided to add in a short cut as well. I have a bread maker, but I hate the shape of the loaf. However, my breadmaker has a dough option, so for the 1st kneading and rise I let the breadmaker do the work.

So far so good. My breadmaker also has a time delay option, so i can load the ingredients, pre-set the machine to be ready first thing in the morning and have fresh bread ready for school lunches in the morning.

Cool hey :)

On a cost comparison, bread can cost generally from $1.20 to $3.50 for a store bought loaf. I usually spend about $2.80 as I prefer to buy loaves I know my family will eat and I tend to buy several at a time, so I buy bread I know will freeze and thaw really well.
Home made bread doesn't keep very long, but then it is so scrummptious it tends not to last long anyway. The ingredients cost around $1.20 for a large loaf, that is a loaf that is white with no extra seeds etc. I know i can get flour cheaper, but have been reluctant to buy in bulk quantities until I'm sure I've got the hang of baking bread.

So on a cost basis, based on my normal buying habits, I'm saving $1.60 a loaf. Not much on one loaf but we go through two loaves a day so that is $3.20 a day. Or $22.40 a week. In the course of a year it is a potential saving of $1164.80.

My next experimenting will be in baking to freeze so that I can have a few loaves in reserve for times when we are running short, too just, kids are sick, I'm sick etc. I also want to play around with making rolls too.

Life is Good

Because it's all good :)

Life has been busy. Really busy. I'm in a happy place and plodding along.

I started a business which can be found here selling children's products and some mama items. I have some other business venture ideas up my sleeve...not sure if they'll come to fruition, but they are on my brainstorm map for sure.

My hope for The Treasure Tent is to have a decent income source so I can do the things that don't provide income (parenting, volunteer work, studying random units at uni). While this is my goal, I'm open to the timeframe in achieving it. It's hard work, damn hard work, establishing a business. I know this from starting a business with husband in the building industry. The running around, self-promotion, long hours and initially low/no pay. But I'm committed.

On the home front, my son turned 10 recently. 10!!!! A whole decade I've been a mummy! I'm so proud of him, and I know I'll continue to do so. From his various health issues (respiratory illness, epilepsy, hearing and speech impairments) as a toddler, to having to go to a specialist school, experiencing bullying as junior primary student, he has evolved into a young boy I am so immensely proud of. I look at him and see glimpses of the man he'll become .....and I'm getting goosebumps! He is going to be a great dad/citizen/husband when he grows up.

My other children are plodding along fine. My youngest continues to push boundaries, and although he is a trial, I see in him qualities I admire (innovation, persistence, strength). My girls are my babies. They are scrumptious and creative, they are sweet and they are lovely. They shine.

My sewing is going really well. Part of my business consists of my creations and it is so validating to sell things I have made. I got chooks, they were killed (by the dog), so Fort Knox a.k.a the chicken coop was constructed. I have 4 chooks now, only 1 layer, but the other 3 are young. The garden is sort of ok. Ok the vegie patch is dismal, but I have more fruit trees and they are growing lovely.

Life is good