Planning – A Haircut

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Posted on April 24, 2014

I had my hair cut yesterday. Now that does not sound terribly exciting but I planned it carefully. You see, it is 15 weeks tomorrow evening until we fly to the UK for 6 weeks and since I regularly have my hair cut about every 7 weeks it was important for me to have it done just before we go.

We also have a milestone birthday celebration for The Duke 6 days before we leave so I want my hair to be freshly cut for that event.

When I went to the hairdresser I discussed all of this and with the aid of a calendar we worked out the appropriate dates. I will have 2 more haircuts before we leave – 12th June and again on 31st July. I will look a bit like a shaggy dog when we arrive back in the third week of September so another haircut will be on the agenda as soon as possible after we return.

The other thing we did this week was more directly related to our upcoming trip. We had new passport photos taken and sent off the forms for the renewal of our passports.

Clutter-Free – Start Small

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Posted on April 9, 2014

I often talk about decluttering various spaces and having less but today I want to focus my attention on having clear spaces. I am not advocating jamming your cupboard full of stuff, however, the benefit of clear surfaces cannot be underestimated. It is a task that is unlikely to be achieved in one go and can be enormously overwhelming. That is why I focused my energy on one room – the bathroom. It is the smallest room in the house and is designed for a specific purpose, therefore logically should be the easiest to minimise the ‘stuff’.

I have had the benefit of a renovated bathroom which has an inherently streamlined design. I love the fact that there is no plug lying around on the side of the sink. There are only 2 items on the bench – a ceramic shell dish which holds a small bar of soap and a repurposed vase (The Duke drilled a hole in the base of it) which holds our toothbrushes. It is a quick and easy task to keep this area clean and tidy.

As this is quite a compact area we chose not to have a bath – just an easy to access shower area. I had seen this type of recessed shelf in motel bathrooms and asked the builder to create one when we remodelled the room. I love the idea because it is simple and streamlined to the eye, nothing to rust or gather soap scum and there is no encroachment to bump into when you are showering. From left to right there is shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, facewash and a nail brush – everything required when showering.

The floor is another place where clutter can gather. I found these fittings which attach to the wall – a holder for extra rolls of toilet paper and the toilet brush holder are both clear of the floor and do not need to be moved when sweeping or mopping the floor.

The only 2 things on the floor of the bathroom are a set of scales and the waste paper basket.

My whole house does not look this clear but it is lovely to have achieved it in at least one room.

The vanity unit has a 2 door cupboard and 4 drawers. Tomorrow I will reveal exactly what is lurking in there.

Project 333 – What to Choose

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Posted on April 7, 2014

Despite my assurances at the end of yesterday’s post, I am still not much further advanced in my quest to choose 33 items for the April – June quarter of the Project 333 challenge. It is proving to be quite a challenge as the days here have still been over 30C yet I know that by the end of the 3 months it will be cold (as much as it can be in our very temperate climate. I also know that will probably have to go to Sydney for work in sometime in the next month and I will need some warmer clothes there.

Anyway, 7 days have passed and I have 84 to go. So, what have I worn so far?

Trousers

Black cropped
White 3/4

Shorts

Khaki

Skirts

Black/grey check

Tops

Red fitted tee
Black camisole

Shirts

Blue/white stripe

Cardigans

Red/black/white floral

Shoes

Pewter flats
Red flats

Accessories

Leopard print scarf
White pearl earrings
Black pearl earrings

As Courtney Carver discusses on her blog Be More With Less there are no hard and fast ‘rules’. I think I may end up excluding shoes and accessories from the count but will keep them in for the moment. It really should not be too difficult to keep to 33 pieces as the total count of all of my items of clothing is 76 pieces. This excludes underwear and sleepwear but does include parka, coat, spray jacket and formal attire as well as all of my winter and summer clothes.

Tomorrow I will add a black skirt and a striped shirt to the list as this is what I will be wearing to work. That will bring the total items of clothing to 10.

Both the skirt and shirt are versatile and can be worn in a variety of combinations with the other things on the list as well as some I have yet to choose.

Other items that I am pretty sure will make the cut include:

Black trousers
Denim jeans
Green jeans
Red/white striped 3/4 sleeve fitted tee
Red casual vest
Red ‘denim style’ jacket
Black dress
Black white print jacket
Black knit sweater

No prizes for seeing a red/black/white theme emerging here!

Ashes to Ashes, Branches to Mulch

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Posted on April 6, 2014

We collect all of the fallen branches on our land for firewood, so today The Duke spent some time cutting up some more logs that were stacked and waiting to be cut.

Here are some of them cut and waiting to be stacked in the woodshed.

The mulcher which you can also see in the photograph also got a workout as we mulched several piles of smaller branches as well as some palm fronds and rotting branches. As always, nothing is wasted so some of the mulch was added to one of the raised garden beds that we are filling and the rest will be spread under the native shrubs which are planted along part of the front boundary. The mulch keeps the weeds mostly under control.

Next, we headed over to the area near the vegetable gardens. There was more debris to mulch, including the remnants of the corn stalks.

While the Duke and Psycho Dog were hard at work, I turned my attention to the new garden bed I built yesterday. I needed a bit more mulch and soil to fill it up and then I planted some Purple King climbing beans and radishes.

It is along the outside of the chicken run so the fence will provide an excellent trellis for the beans. I grew these beans a few months ago and had an absolutely fantastic crop so decided to grow them again. I added a couple of star pickets and some wire to enclose the bed so that the chickens cannot dig it up when they are free-ranging. I was just putting the finishing touches to the wire surround as the first drops of rain fell late this afternoon. We had a tremendous thunderstorm with some huge bolts of lightening very close by but were lucky not to lose power.

Finally, just to prove that our garden is decorative as well as functional, here is a photo of the roses flowering in the front garden.

Tonight I am going to make some decisions about my 33 items for the round of Project 333 which began on April 1st. I have kept track of what I have worn so far this month and will include them in the tally. I hope to share the details of my choices with you tomorrow.

Project 333 – An Anniversary

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Posted on April 2, 2014

It is two years since I started my first Project 333. You can read about it here. After the the first couple of 3 month periods I decided to take a slightly different approach and work towards having a streamlined wardrobe which covered all seasons.

I think I have been fairly successful in that goal so perhaps it is time to try Project 333 again.

I have not actually set aside 33 items yet so I am going to keep track of what I use until I can work out my 33 items.

2 days into April and so far I have worn 1 pair of shoes, 1 shirt, 1 pair of earrings, 1 pair of trousers and 1 pair of shorts.

Shoes – pewter flats
Shirt – 3/4 sleeve blue and white stripe
Earrings – white pearl studs
Shorts – khaki
Trousers – black cropped pants

This is what I wore to work yesterday. Today I was at home and a friend came for lunch and I also had visitors for afternoon tea. I teamed the same shirt and shoes with a pair of knee-length shorts.

Have you ever participated in Project 333? Has it changed how you view your clothes?

Cable Chaos – A Solution

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Posted on March 31, 2014

Some of you will remember my earlier post about the mess of some the cables here and the follow-up post.

I finally got around to testing out my design using some plywood and a jigsaw.

I also used a wooden presentation box from a premium bottle of wine that has been drunk and enjoyed some time ago. Once the plywood pieces were slotted together and inserted in the box it looked like this.

It is not fastened in any way but is totally self-supporting.

Here is the result with the cables separated into their own spaces. There are a couple of double-ups but they are the same or similar cables. It definitely makes locating the correct cable much easier.

I am thinking of making labels to go on the edges to identify exactly where each cable belongs.

The other good thing about this system is that it imposes limits. I will need to regularly review what cables we have and whether they are still required as I would not be keen on having a larger storage box.

What do you think?

Foodie Friday – Pantry Storage

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Posted on March 28, 2014

Firstly, I apologise for the lack of posts this week. I have been busy with other things and have just not found the time to get my head together to write anything useful. I am also behind in responding to your comments but am about to rectify that once I finish this post. I will be busy this weekend but hopefully things will get back on track from Monday. I hope you have a great weekend.

I cook most of our food from scratch, so naturally I keep a store of the ingredients I use regularly. I do not store tonnes of food in case of an apocalyptic event, however, we do have enough so that I only shop for dry goods about every 3 – 4 months. I never run out of everything and I never feel the need to race off to the shops at the first hint of a severe weather event such as a cyclone or possible flooding. These are the 2 most likely scenarios where we live.

We eat a gluten-free diet so I have gradually eliminated all wheat-based products from the pantry.

Gluten-free muesli (homemade)

Rainsins
Sultanas
Currants
Dried apricots

Walnuts
Almonds
Cashews

Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Chia seeds

Almond meal
Flaxseed meal
Psyllium husk
Sago
Quinoa flakes

Gluten-free flour (homemade)

Brown rice flour
Potato flour
Chickpea (besan) flour
Quinoa flour
Arrowroot

Kidney beans
Haricot beans
Red lentils
Brown lentils
Chickpeas

Arborio rice
Brown rice

Apple cider vinegar
White vinegar
Red wine vinegar
Balsamic vinegar

Tomato sauce (home-made)
Worcestershire sauce (home-made)
Tamari
Caramelised balsamic vinegar

Avocado oil
Coconut oil
Olive oil

Allspice
Chilli
Cinnamon
Coriander
Cumin
Curry powder
Ginger
Mixed spice
Paprika
Smoked paprika
Taco mix
Tumeric
Yellow mustard seeds

Beef stock powder
Vegie stock powder

Black pepper (peppercorns)
Cooking salt
Herb salt
Sea salt

Raw sugar
Brown sugar
Honey
Golden syrup
Treacle

Cocoa
Coconut

Skim milk powder

Baking powder
Bicarb soda

Black tea
Earl Grey tea
Coffee

Rice cakes
Rice crackers

Canned tuna
Canned tomatoes

Most of the dry goods are bought from bulk containers so I store them in glass or plastic jars in the pantry. I have some 10 litre plastic buckets which I keep excess of some items in. These are in a separate store cupboard.

I may have missed a couple of things but that is basically what we keep. Some of the items are left from before we changed our diets so are unlikely to be replaced. How does my list compare to what you have? Any thoughts, suggestions or questions?

Plastic Bags – A Curse

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Posted on March 22, 2014

A couple of days ago I read this post from Joanna over at Every Week is Green where she discussed being ‘forced’ to accept a plastic carry bag from a retailer. I have had a similar experience, albeit, close to 20 years ago. Refusing plastic bags at the time was far less prevalent than it is today so I regularly was confronted by some very odd responses.
On the particular occasion in question, I was in a department store in Adelaide where I intended to buy a pair of socks for The Duke. I approached the counter and as I handed over the socks, I advised the assistant that I did not wish to have a bag. Then ensued one of the most bizarre ‘arguments’ I have ever had the misfortune to be involved in. She was adamant that I had to take a bag and I was equally determined that I would not accept one. Her reasons were quite ridiculous but she finally became exasperated and asked, “Well, how will people know that you bought the item at *******?” Seriously, I had to accept a bag so that the store could advertise that I shopped there? I was not about to back down and advised that I would not accept a bag or I would not buy the socks. I finally paid for the socks and left with them and the docket in my hand.

It was then and there that I realised just what hard work it was to stick to my principles. I have continued to do so and it has become easier, however,you need to be constantly on your guard to avoid plastic bags sneaking into your life.

Don’t give up, Joanna.

Finally, here is my hessian bag that I finished relining.

You can read about the beginning of the project here. It is towards the bottom of the post. I did try handsewing the lining in but it was too difficult so this morning I used some heavy linen thread and sewed it on the machine using the heaviest needle I had. The stitching is clearly visible but I am not concerned as I now have a functional bag again. Thanks, Carol for the lining fabric. 🙂

Two Heads Are Better Than One

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Posted on March 18, 2014

So the saying goes………….. This is definitely true when it comes to decluttering. Trying to justify why you want to keep something to another person is more of a challenge than just doing it yourself.

When we had the kitchen renovated about 4 years ago we chose to have mostly drawers rather than cupboards and I am really pleased with that decision.

On Sunday I cleaned out 5 drawers plus 1 small cupboard in the kitchen. I actually removed the drawers from their runners, emptied the contents and completely cleaned the surrounding area as well as the drawer.

The large drawer below the microwave holds baking tins and trays. The Duke and I went through each item and have rehomed several trays and tins that are no longer used for one reason or another. Mostly it was because we simply no longer (or never did) bake those items. It meant that I was able to consolidate the extra tins that were in the top cupboard into the same drawer as the rest of the baking trays.

Here is the end result.

One of the other drawers that got the treatment was what some people would call a junk drawer but I refuse to give it that name as it is not junk. Everything in here has a use and is used regularly. I have decluttered it severa times over the past few years and each time I manage to reduce a bit more and I am pretty happy with it now. This time I have finally let go of the remnants of rolls of clingwrap and plastic for separating items in the freezer. I have not used either for many years so it was time to move them along.

What have you decluttered lately?

Obsolete? No Way!

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Posted on March 16, 2014

We were working on building the fence for the vegetable gardens yesterday when The Duke needed some more of the long screws that he was using. This necessitated a trip to Bunnings which is about a 50km round trip. It is not a trip we make every week so we try to combine more than one reason to make it worthwhile. As well as buying the screws, we needed fuel for the ute, bought more salmon at the fish shop and took the 2 empty CO2 canisters from the Soda Stream to be replaced.

We do not use the Soda Stream every week so the canisters last quite a while. I took them to KMart and the attendant at the service desk stated that my canisters were 40 litre ones (enough to carbonate 40 litres of drink) but that they were no longer available and they had 60 litre replacements. She also assured me that they fitted all models except the first one. I accepted this and handed over my $38 in exchange for 2 new 60 litre canisters of CO2.

I arrived home and checked them, and of course, I discovered that they did not fit. I rang KMart and said I would be returning them since the 40 litre ones were not available. I then rang Coles and Harvey Norman to check the validity of the the story and it seemed that I was definitely out of luck. The girl at Harvey Norman flippantly said, “Well its obviously over 10 years old, you’ll just have to buy a new one”. I did not want to buy a new Soda Stream as the one I have is in perfect condition and works well.

So, I was up for the challenge to modify the device to accept the larger canister. The connections are identical as the staff in KMart had advised that the 2 sizes were interchangeable. The problem was the size of the opening that the base of the canister fits through. The Duke and I decided that we had nothing to lose by attempting the modification as we could no longer use our Soda Stream as it was.

The equipment: A jigsaw, wire cutters, Stanley knife and sandpaper.

The jigsaw was perfect to enlarge the opening, however, on one side there was not enough room to manouvre the saw. We use the wire cutters to cut small notches to weaken the edge of the plastic then expanded the diameter of the opening using the Stanley knife and finally smoothed the rough edges with the sandpaper.

We were too busy being creative to take any photos of the actual process but here is the end result with the canister in place.