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Posted on August 25, 2015

The last few days have been pleasantly busy as we hosted some friends from interstate. It was a great opportunity to do some local sightseeing and discover some hidden gems in our own backyard.

After meeting our guests at the airport in Brisbane and then having lunch we headed home on the road less travelled. There is not a lot of interest on the highway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast so we took the scenic route via Dayboro and Mt Mee. We had discovered this route a couple of weeks ago and you can read more about it here.

On Sunday we ventured to the Glasshouse Mountains lookout, a short drive west of Glasshouse Mountains township. I had previously noticed signs about this but had never sought it out. This is a fantastic spot with great views, picnic tables, BBQs and a short walking circuit.

Monday saw us take off in yet another direction where we sampled cheese at the cheese factory in Kenilworth before travelling along various back roads and finally ending up at Boreen Point on the edge of Lake Cootharaba. We had a picnic lunch and then adjourned to an historic hotel for a quiet drink. The Apollonian Hotel was relocated from Gympie where it was built during the goldrush days of the 1870s.

What gems have you discovered in your local area?

Tracking 2015

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Posted on January 31, 2015

Today is Saturday. Where did the week go? I am very busy at work so although I have been thinking about my blog that is as far as it went.

Not only is it Saturday, it is Saturday 31st January. The final day of the first month of 2015. 1/12th of the year gone. Have you already forgotten what you resolved to do better/differently/more consistently in 2015 already?

One of my goals was to actually track how much we spend. We have never worked to a real budget – actually allocating a certain $ value to each item/category but we keep careful track of the regular bills – rates/insurances/phone/internet but is the variable spending that is more difficult to calculate. I do not have a specific amount of money for groceries each week as I tend to bulk shop for dry goods and meat and buy perishable items on a weekly basis. I need to average my grocery spending over at least 6 months to get a fair and accurate idea of how much we spend.

As I said it is the last day of the month and we have been shopping so there will be no more spending today. The grand total of our variable spending in January was $5,134.53 – yes, over $5K! Almost exactly half of that was airfares and accommodation for our Singapore holiday later in the year. So, $2,618.73 looks somewhat better. This figure includes food, clothes, gifts, hobbies, eating out, entertainment, alcohol, car fuel and maintenance, haircuts, public transport, pets, medical/dental and incidentals.

Apart from the holiday spending which is really a one-off, the categories with the highest spend were food $623 closely followed by public transport $620. This is really interesting because what finally prompted me to track our spending very carefully was that I wanted to know how much we would need to live a comfortable lifestyle on our terms in our retirement. Giving up paid work is a few years away yet but it is important to budget for life without regular employment. We will still need to eat when we are retired but public transport will cease to be an issue as all of that expenditure is related to our lengthy commute to the office.

Do you know how much you spend? Working or retired? I would love to hear your comments.

Feels Like Friday

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Posted on January 21, 2015

I have not posted anything for the past couple of days as I have been totally committed to work. We have had colleagues from interstate working with us for a few days and I had to give it my undivided attention so as to maximise the results from being able to work face-to-face. Despite all of the advances in technology which allow us to connect via, phone, email and videoconferencing, there is nothing quite like being able to sit down and look at the same work together.

Everyone has headed back to their respective locations and I am now home with the prospect of 5 days at home stretching out in front of me. It really does feel like Friday! I will be doing some work from home tomorrow but other than that my time is my own. As an added bonus we have a long weekend due to the Australia Day holiday on Monday.

I hope to make some progress on a number of projects around the house and garden and I am sure I will have lots to show you.

We have the prospect of slightly cooler weather for the next few days and possibly some heavy rain. I think the first thing I will do is make sure all of the washing is up to date while the weather is still fine.

It is lovely to have time to look forward to spending as I choose rather than having a diary crammed full of appointments.Do you plan every moment or do you go with the flow, so to speak?

Planning a Picnic

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Posted on January 12, 2015

On Saturday we were going to be out for the whole day so I decided to pack a picnic lunch. We knew that we were going out for dinner so it seemed ridiculous to consider ‘eating out’ twice in one day.

This is where we had our lunch. It is not out in the country but a suburban park about 4km from the Brisbane CBD. There is a bus depot across the road and a major freeway and interchange a few hundred metres in another direction, yet it was a quiet and peaceful oasis where we stopped for our picnic.

We unpacked our picnic set and cloth, added the food and drink and we were ready to tuck into our feast.

I had made a mixed salad of lettuce, capsicum (red peppers), cherry tomatoes, cucumber and cheese as well as a couple of hard-boiled eggs. There were rice crackers and some mango chutney as well. I packed some walnuts and dried figs to finish and the whole lot was washed down with lemon cordial and soda water.

A pleasing note is that the lemon cordial, mango chutney and soda water were made at home, the chickens provided the eggs and the cucumber and tomatoes were picked from the garden.

Just a few minutes spent planning meant that we saved at least $30 and were able to enjoy some of our favourite foods in a pleasant setting rather than doing battle with holiday crowds at a cafe or food court.

A Sleepover & Singapore

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Posted on January 6, 2015

We have a guest who is having a sleepover tonight.

Psycho Dog is on the left and Cousin P on the right. Cousin P belongs to my sister who lives about 20 minutes drive away. It is great that we can share the dog-sitting when either of us go on holidays or simply will be away overnight. The dogs get on well together and seem to enjoy the company, although they are usually both exhausted once the other goes home.

The other news of the moment is that we have booked our flights to Singapore for a holiday later in the year. No other details have been arranged although I will look for some suitable accommodation before too long. Unlike our other overseas trips we will not be touring. We will spend a week in Singapore, hopefully close to the centre of town. There will be no changes of accommodation and we will simply use public transport to make our way around.

2014 – A Year in Review

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Posted on December 31, 2014

Bizarre, tragic and downright evil are some of the adjectives which come to mind when looking to describe the events which shaped 2014.

Invariably, the most recent events are those which are clearest in our minds – the Sydney siege, the stabbing murders of 8 children in Cairns and the loss of the Air Asia flight. Unfortunately, the horrors seem to have been almost never-ending. Two Malaysia Airlines flights lost in very different circumstances, the untimely death of Phillip Hughes and the tragic death of Luke Batty at his father’s hand.

Two other matters were resolved with trial and sentencing of the perpetrators of crimes against Daniel Morcombe and Alison Baden-Clay.

On a different note the G20 roadshow came to town and despite Mr Abbott’s threats, Mr Putin appeared to depart with his shirtfront intact.

Ferries sank, volcanoes erupted, the Ebola virus rampaged through parts of Africa, we became aware of the appalling agenda of Islamic State and the fighting continued in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Gaza.

It is not exactly a good news story. I am sure there were some highlights but I am struggling to find them.

Meanwhile, I tried to keep my focus on blogging but there were times when I just felt too overwhelmed by events in the world around me to write about simplifying our life. There was also a 6 week hiatus while we jetted off to the UK and Ireland for an amazing holiday. That adventure is documented here.

One of my goals for 2015 is to re-capture the enthusiasm for my simple,organised life and share it with you all on a much more regular basis.

Thank you for sticking with me and may 2015 be all that you wish for.

Happy New Year!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 33,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 12 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Done and Dusted

Holiday Hangover

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Posted on November 30, 2014

It is now 10 weeks since we arrived back from our overseas holiday and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get properly back into the swing of blogging. With less than 4 weeks until Christmas, I suspect that it is going to be next year before I get things really back on track.

Apart from trying to get things done at home, I am finding that I am particularly busy at work. I constantly feel as though I am trying to catch my tail as there has been quite a backlog from while I was away. I have almost got that under control and now am trying to fit in a couple of additional projects which I will be working on next year.

Yesterday we attended our Christmas drinks celebration with all of our neighbours. The road we live in is about 3km in length with only about 26 houses scattered along its length. Some of the residents are permanent and others homes are weekenders so we see some of our neighbours very infrequently. The annual get-together is a fun evening and everyone brings theirs drinks and a plate of food to share. I took a bowl of Pumpkin & Feta Balls and some homemade tomato sauce for dipping. The recipe I used is here. I adapted it slightly as I used standard feta, chilli powder (1 teaspoon) and 1 teaspoon of powdered coriander. I rolled them into small balls rather than as fritters.

Today I picked 2 large bowls of cherry tomatoes. These grown wild in our garden – sometimes in rather inconvenient places. Here are some of them. I remove the stalks, discard any with blemishes, rinse them and then freeze them whole in recycled bread bags. I now have about 6 kgs in the freezer.