The Rhythm of Life

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Posted on February 10, 2014

…….or just a Never-Ending Story?

The jobs that seem to fall together under that all-encompassing title of “Housework’. Do you embrace them as a steady part of your routine and rejoice in the satisfaction of a job well done? Or do you constantly rail against the monotony of having to do the same task over and over again?

During the past few weekends we have made substantial progress with what The Duke refers to as our bucket list. It is not a bucket list in the generally accepted sense but more like a ‘to do list’. We have bought and planted the shrubs outside the boundary fence, prepared the fence posts (cut to length, cleaned and painted), created and planted the rockery and started on building more raised garden beds.

However, the last couple of days have been a bit different. The combination of a very busy week at work and drizzling rain yesterday meant that I did very little outdoor work. In fact, I could say I did nothing much until I actually list what I did do.

Washing
Ironing
Prepared meals
Menu planned
Shopping
Picked beans, tomatoes, corn and mangoes
Sorted contents of freezer
Prepared and stored mango (pureed, frozen, dehydrated)
Prepared and froze corn
Swept floors
Dusted sideboard and bookcase
Refilled pantry containers from storage buckets

There were probably a dozen other little tasks that have not even made it onto the list.

The Duke also washed several loads of dishes and emptied the compost numerous times while I was making a mess in the kitchen.

Most of these tasks will need to be repeated the next day, week or month but that does not bother me particularly. I am constantly looking at ways to simplify my life and one of the reasons to reduce the amount of time and effort that is expended on routine tasks such as many of those that I have listed. A good example is shopping. This my shopping consisted of buying cheese and vinegar at Aldi (the vinegar was for the chutney), a small quantity of fruit and vegetables at the local fruit stall and The Duke bought some bacon at the butcher when he went in to town on another errand. The flow on effect was that putting everything away took about 2 minutes so that is a huge saving as well.

So, what do you think of repetitive homemaking tasks?

Edging Closer

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Posted on February 9, 2014

It is not a new year nor the anniversary of my blog but I am on the brink of a milestone. As I write this the statistics show that there have been 99,992 views.

Almost 100,000 views of my blog! Who would have thought when I started this almost 3 years ago that I would still be writing posts almost every day and that there would be people in well over 100 countries on every continent reading my blog. It is the knowledge that each and every one of you are interested in at least something that I write that keeps me going. Your comments and feedback are very welcome and thank you for visiting.

I’m So Proud

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Posted on February 6, 2014

Today I want to share a story that my daughter told me. The words, “I’m so proud of her” were what she said at the end of the story.

Miss O, now 6, has just started Year 1 at school after having completed Prep last year. She is a bright little girl whom we all love dearly but she is very shy.

Talking has not been her forte and when she was at daycare there were times when the staff would bribe her to talk! Social interactions were a real challenge so we were all concerned as to how she would cope at school. She was lucky to have a brilliant and supportive Prep teacher who gently encouraged her.

As well as being at school Miss O goes to before and after school care and it was feedback from one of the co-ordinators that swelled her mother’s heart. Miss O is not only settled and comfortable in her environment but she has taken a couple of the new Prep students under her wing and is teaching them a particular card game at after school care.

It may seem a small thing but it such an achievement for her. I wonder if it is a bit of a case of ‘been there, done that’ and she knows how it feels and therefore has a real empathy for others who are feeling out of their depth?

We are all so proud of her.

Mango Madness

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Posted on February 5, 2014

First it was the figs that I dried, then the corn being blanched and frozen. Today’s glut is mangoes.

We have 2 mango trees, one large one that is about 20 years old and does not fruit. I have no idea why there are no fruit and I am not sure how long we will maintain a non-productive fruit tree when the space could be better utilised. The other tree was planted about 3 years ago and has produced a few mangoes last year and this year there are 2 that have reached mature size so we are waiting for them to ripen. So the glut is not from our own trees.

As we were going out on Sunday I noticed several mangoes lying on the driveway of a property not far from us. I knew that the was a mango tree in the front yard but I can honestly say that I had never noticed fruit on in previous years. Since the owners are not permanent residents I contacted them to see if I could collect any fallen fruit. With a positive response to my enquiry I headed off to pick up the fruit this morning.

I discovered that there are actually 3 mango trees and there was an abundance of fruit on the ground. 2 supermarket bags were filled with rotten and decaying fruit which I took home and put in the compost. The usable fruit filled 5 calico bags!

Some of the fruit were very ripe and others were partly damaged so it as important to salvage what I could before they deteriorated any further. I decided the quickest and easiest solution was to puree the pulp and freeze it. Remember, that I had picked the fruit before 6am and I still had to go to work.

After 30 minutes of furious preparation and a blender I had 2.5 litres of mango puree ready to store in the freezer.

I have taken one of the remaining mangoes as part of my packed lunch and there are still 38 mangoes on the kitchen bench.

Of course, there are still dozens on the trees.

I am really glad that I made the effort to contact the owner of the property as it would have been a shame to see all of this fruit go to waste.

How would you use the mango puree?

You Must Remember This…..

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Posted on February 4, 2014

Remembering, memories and shared experiences all combine to be part of what we are today.

The past helps to shape the future.

For many people, our memories seem to be inextricably linked to things from the past. It may be the souvenir trinkets you bought on holiday last week, your college sweater from 30 years ago or great-grandma’s fur wrap.

What would happen if you removed all of this stuff from your life? Would the memories disappear? The memories will remain because the human brain is so smart that we do not need physical reminders of events and people from our past.

Let us take the college sweater as an example. Does it add value to your life by being stashed in a box in the attic. Perhaps it is sharing a box with some old text books or the corsage from your debutante ball and the suit you wore to your first job interview? If you got rid of the sweater, corsage and suit would that mean that you did not attend college or your debutante ball and the job interview didn’t happen? No, of course not. Moving items such as this along will not destroy the memories which you have kept alive, despite having no day-to-day physical connection to the item.

The holiday souvenirs are insidious. The Eiffel Tower keyring, leprechaun fridge magnet and so on – are these the ‘real’ memories of your visit? Did you need a keyring or fridge magnet? Will you forget that you visited France and Ireland if these things are no longer stashed in a shoebox in the top of your wardrobe? Time to move them on and remind yourself not to be sucked in to buying these knickknacks in the future. Save your time and money for things that really count and add value.

Then there are the family heirlooms such as that fur wrap. Do you wear it? Can it be refashioned into something you will use? If the answer to both these questions is no, then perhaps you could ask other family members but if no-one wants it perhaps it is time to let it go so that someone can gain some benefit from it. Think of the alternative – the wrap sits in that box in the attic, gathering dust and probably deteriorating until you depart this earth and someone has to go through your possessions. It will be tossed out without a second thought.

If you are struggling with decluttering stuff, stop and put yourself in the shoes of your children (or others) who are sorting through your stuff when you are gone. Ask yourself, “What would they do with this?” Better still, ask them if they would like the item now. If they don’t, you can be rest assured that they will not want it in 10, 20 or 50 years time when you are gone.

I am not saying that you need to get rid of all of your possessions but rather, we need to evaluate what we have and keep that which is useful, we truly love and which adds value to our lives. Anything that has been stashed in a box or cupboard for more than a year needs a careful re-assessment. Depending on what it is, put it on display, use it everydayor refashion it so that it fits with your current needs. If none of these actions are right, move it along to someone who will love and use it.

Don’t let your memories hold you back. Let go of some stuff, free up time and space, go and create new memories. Enjoy!

Storing the Surplus

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Posted on February 2, 2014

As I mentioned yesterday, I picked corn. I ended up with about 18 cobs and after The Duke had 2 for his lunch I was still left with a lot of corn to keep for another day. After doing a bit of research, I decided to blanch it, strip the kernels and freeze them.

Here is what I did.

Cooked 3 – 4 cobs at a time for 6 minutes in boiling water. It needs to be a large enough volume so that the water returns to a rolling boil within 1 – 2 minutes of adding the corn.

Remove the corn from the water using a slotted spoon and drop immediately into iced water for 6 minutes.

Strip the kernels from the cob using a sharp knife. In the instructions I found on the internet someone suggested using a bundt tin to support the narrow end of the cob while cutting the kernels off. I happened to have one of these so tried out. I was very pleased with the ease of removing the kernels and the tin was perfect to catch them in.

I gently stirred the mixture to separate the kernels and spread them on 2 trays, covered them and placed them in the freezer overnight. I weighed the kernels before I froze them and my efforts yielded 1.7kg.

This morning I removed the frozen kernels and packed them into 2 containers. This way the kernels are individually frozen and I can remove as much or as little as I need at a time.

Despite my despair of a few weeks ago, the corn has been a real success and there are more cobs which will probably be ready next week.

Fabulous February

Navigation Nightmare

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Posted on January 29, 2014

I am currently trying unravel the complexities of telecommunications services – home home, mobile phone, home and portable internet services.

What do we really need? Are we getting value for money from our current setup?

I don’t believe we are getting the services we need at the best available price so I am reviewing our choices. I am guilty of delaying this assessment because it just seemed too complicated. There are different providers all offering different levels of service, bundled options and inclusions/exclusions so trying to work out what suits our needs best can be tricky.

Last night I finally bit the bullet and worked out what we are spending each month. That was a wake-up call! $210/month for our landline, 2 mobile phones, home broadband and mobile broadband services. These are spread across 3 different providers.

My research so far indicates that we should be able to get services we need from a single provider and with some minor changes to the way we use the services we can possibly save $90/month. That is over $1,000 /year that we have been ‘wasting’. This is possibly still not the very cheapest but there are other things such as network coverage, service and reliability that are important to us. It is up to you to work out your priorities but it has definitely been worth making the effort to sort out the best deals for us.

I still need to ring the provider and confirm a couple of details before we go ahead with the new arrangement but so fat it is looking good.

In conjunction with my new plan we are considering buying iPhones. We plan to buy them outright and are looking at the 5C model. I have never used a ‘smartphone’ and The Duke has had an HTC which he has not used to its full potential. So, to all of you techno wizards out there, I would love it if you could shed some light on any of the questions below.

What is your monthly data allowance and how do you use it?What is Facetime and how does it work?
iPhone vs Android? Your experiences and thoughts?
Must have Apps?
Anything else I should keep in mind?

Have you reviewed your telecommunications expenses lately? What about other expenses like car, utilities or insurances?

Preparations

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Posted on January 27, 2014

Exactly a year ago we were in the midst of managing with no power as a result of the wild weather which was the aftermath of Cyclone (Hurricane) Oswald.

When we finally regained power I wrote this post. More importantly, I wrote a follow-up assessment here.

It feels like groundhog day as it appears very likely that a cyclone will form off the north Queensland coast in the next 36 – 48 hours. There is no guarantee where a potential system will track but the Bureau of Meteorology predictions are currently showing it crossing the coast and causing widespread rain over much of the eastern and central parts of the state.

Colour Forecast map for next 4 days

My second link is interesting to re-read as it shows that once the immediate threat was over we relaxed and did not pursue some of the things we identified. We have not bought a generator, nor organised the rainwater tank closer to the house. The small freezer is not currently in use but is downstairs and could be used if necessary, however, the better option would be the camp fridge (also stored downstairs) set to ‘Freeze’.

We have had a long weekend here and I have unwittingly done some useful preparation. All of the washing and almost all of the ironing is done. Meals are planned and some are prepared for the coming week. There is clean linen on the bed and in the bathroom. I plan to finish the ironing and vacuum the floors tomorrow evening. All of this means that I have most of the housework up to date and we do not need to worry about basics such as washing if we were to lose power for several days. We also have enough food and basic supplies to ensure that we do not need to go to the shops. All of the electronic equiment is fully charged and we have wind-up torches and radio. The car has a full tank of fuel. There is no need to panic but we are prepared simply because of how we live.

What preparations would you make in the event of the chance of severe weather?