Travel and Treading Lightly

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The Duke and I did a road trip for 2 weeks in May and with some thought and planning I was able to maintain many of the habits from home while we were on the road.

This trip is a little different.  I am at a work conference at the Novotel Forest Resort at Creswick in Victoria.

This is the view from the balcony outside my room.

We are here until Friday afternoon so I am sure there will be lots more to tell but I just thought I would share some points I have discovered today about the environmental impact and potential sustainability when you are travelling and have no real choice in anything.

The Good:

I caught the train to the airport.

I am combining 3 days in Victoria for pleasure after the conference so only one lot of air travel for 2 purposes.

I took my own snack and drink to have at the airport – no takeaway bought.

Qantas now promote separating the recyclable items from the waste eg: cans, bottles and plastic cups handed to flight attendants separately.

Travelled by bus from airport to venue.

Lunch provided in brown paper bags which I saved and will take home.  They are quite large with strong handles.

Minimal lighting in resort corridors – main lighting is activated by movement.

Door opening onto balcony – means I can have fresh air and ventilation – do not have to rely on airconditioning.

Card in the bathroom promoting shorter showers.

The Bad:

Non-recyclable packing from snack on the plane.

I travelled by plane.

Lunch items were wrapped in plastic film.

Bottled water was provided with lunch.

All in all it has not been too bad in terms of environmental impact.

Tying Up Loose Ends

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I am quickly putting this post together while I run through my lists (written and in my head) to make sure I have everything organised for my trip.  I am heading off in the morning to a work conference in Victoria, followed by the weekend with friends in Melbourne and Bendigo.

As usual I set myself all sorts of goals to achieve before I go.  These included creating a costume for the dinner on Thursday night, getting all of the washing and ironing up to date and meals planned for when we get back.  We arrive home on Monday  and then it will be 4 full days at work for the rest of the week so I need things at home to run smoothly hence the need to plan ahead.

My bags are packed, all the gadgets (phone, laptop, camera, iPod and Kindle) charged and chargers packed and clothes laid out for tomorrow so I feel prepared.  Hopefully, I can go to bed relaxed and get a good night’s sleep.

Here is one loose end that I have yet to tie up – the paperwork that I culled last week is now a bag of shredded paper which is sitting in the corner of the office.  I will deal with that when I get time.

2011-08-30 01Not matter how much time I have before I travel I always manage to find enough things to do to fill my time up until the last minute.  How about you?

Weekly Challenge – Week 16

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Week 1 – I have decided to remove all the tasks that have been completed.  The list now will just be the ones I haven’t done from previous weeks 😦 and the 4 new ones that I have added for the coming week.  They will retain their existing numbering so you will be able to gauge how long I have been procrastinating over some of them.  I have put notes in italics by way of explanation below some items.

What I have done so far.  Scroll to the end of the list to so the new additions for this week.

3. Create a spreadsheet for future holiday packing needs

17. Follow up what I need to do to change my superannuation

23. Organise quote to have poinciana tree lopped and mulched

We have almost decided that we can do it ourselves.

32. Thin out and re-pot bok choy seedlings

I have planted 12 of the strongest ones in the garden and will stagger planting of the rest.

35. Make a vinyl cover for the newly-created day bed

39.Arrange to close a bank account that is no longer required

47. Take glass jars to op shop

I will give them to a specific person who would like them but can’t be done till next month.

51. Add more notes to my Christmas letter draft

54.Search for accommodation for weekend in Sydney next month.

56. Clean and pack away the doll’s house I received through Freecycle (for when the girls are older).

59. Finish sorting out my stash of fabric.

61.Check booking for Mousetrap

62. Pack for trip to Melbourne

63.Plan menu for next week when we get back

64.Finish presentation for work conference

There is nothing too onerous being added to the list this week as I will be away from Wednesday morning until Monday afternoon.  Last week I finally finished the windows at the back of the house so it was great to cross that off the list.  I finished organising my costume but decided against a beret.  I will post photos after the event.

The other thing I did was refashion a pair of jeans I bought from the op shop a couple of weeks ago.  The waist was an excellent fit but they were a little long in the crotch and also much too baggy in the legs so I did some major alterations and am very pleased with the result.  I only have a couple of average photos that I took of the image in the mirror but hopefully you will get the idea.

Front view…….

And the rear…………

Til next week. 🙂

Who Needs Meat?

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Although we are not vegetarian we do eat a range of non-meat meals and when we do have meat it is quite a small portion.

Why do we do this?  It is partly driven by cost because I would much rather have a small portion of locally-produced, grass-fed or free range meat occasionally than the cheapest I can find just to serve meat every day.  However, more and more it is because we have access to a range of home-grown vegetables.  These are grown without the use of pesticides or chemical fertiliser.  I know how they have been produced, there is no transport involved and they are picked at their peak.

Here is some of what I picked today.

2011-08-28 01I had already given 1 head of broccoli and half of the snow peas to a neighbour before I took the photo.  The broccoli weighed just over 3kg and that is only about half of the plants.  There will also be all of the side shoots for a couple more months at least.  I expect that based on today’s harvest that I will probably reap about 8kg in total.  That is not a bad return for a $2.50 punnet of seedlings.  I should be more accurate in my calculations of the value of what I plant.  Jennifer Lorenzetti from Fast, Cheap and Good has the right idea when it comes to calculating the value of what she grows and other things such as jam-making and preserving.  As well as the broccoli and snow peas there is another cabbage and some spinach.

With all of that fresh broccoli it had to be incorporated into the meal.  Tonight we had Mexican Bean Pie with broccoli, carrots and mushrooms.  The mushrooms are still growing prolifically from the bags of mushroom compost we got a couple of months ago.  The cool, damp weather of the past couple of days means that there is yet another crop that have popped up in the last 24 hours.

2011-08-28 02Mexican Bean Pie is a really fancy name for something I whipped up one night and it has now become a favourite of ours.  I use the Crockpot Refried Beans and mix about a cup of bean mixture with cooked rice until it is a fairly stiff consistency.  Spread into a pie plate, top with a little grated cheese and heat through until cheese is melted.  This can be done in microwave, oven or under the grill.

Head in the Clouds

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The fine, misty rain started here just after midday yesterday and the light rain has continued ever since.  The cloud is right down over the mountains and this is the view we have had all day.

Meanwhile, I have spent the day inside doing some sewing.  I have finished making the tablecloth for our “Woodstock” dinner table.  Here it is spread out on the spare bed.

My skirt is made, too.

Tonight we are to the movies in Maleny.  There is a film night on alternate Saturday nights put on by the Maleny Film Society and tonight it is ‘Oranges and Sunshine’ about the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom.

There is an option to have dinner beforehand in the hall.  The catering is by Pomodoras, a local restaurant and accommodation venue.  We are going to have dinner before the movie tonight so looking forward to a good night.

While I have been typing this it has started to pour with rain so umbrellas will be a must to stay dry as we make our way into the hall.

We have put the dehumidifier to good use in our bedroom so that we will have dry sheets to sleep in tonight.  The humidity in the house is still about 90% despite having the fire on all day.

Shopping For Something Special

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In my quest to live a greener, simpler life with less stuff I rarely go shopping except for basic foods.  When I do shop it is for a specific purpose such as buying a gift or something I need for a sewing project.

I also buy from op shops where it is feasible and appropriate, as buying second-hand goods stops those things being sent to landfill and there is no additional carbon footprint from the production of new manufactured items.

Whether it is second-hand or new, I do not go browsing and shopping for the sake of it.  I know of people who go op shopping to minimise the cost of their need for a “shopping fix”.  This still tends to result in lots of extra “stuff” being bought.  It can actually be worse in terms of acquiring stuff as op shop goods are generally cheaper, thus enabling more to be bought.

Today I went to an op shop in the city but it was almost like a boutique compared to the basic op shops in the suburbs and country towns.  There are 2 op shops in Maleny so I went there is the hope of finding what I was looking for.  The purpose of my expedition was to find some things I needed for my costume for the themed dinner at a work conference on Thursday evening.  Our table is 1960’s and we have chosen Woodstock as our theme.

Here is what I bought.

A cheesecloth sundress which I am going to turn into a long skirt – $6.50

A single bed doona cover to make into a tablecloth for our table – $8.50

And finally, a top from the Nepalese shop in Maleny – patchwork,tie-dyed and hand-painted.  It even has bell sleeves.

I need to make a shoulder bag and I may make a vest as well.

Now I am off to start re-fashioning.  Next week I will post some photos of my outfit.

 

Piles of Paper

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This photo of the study desk which I posted yesterday, is the superficial face of what is lurking deeper.

2011-08-24 02‘Study’ is probably a bit of a misnomer for this room as neither of us are studying anything and haven’t done so for many years.  I should really call it the office as it is the office from which we jointly run the business of our lives and our home.

The business of our income and expenditure includes bank statements, tax returns, superannuation information, rates, utilities and various insurance policies.  We have a filing cabinet in here.

2011-08-25 02Like this…..

2011-08-25 03I have found that simply filing everything is not enough.  We need to regularly check and cull what we keep.  There is no benefit in keeping bank statements from 20 years ago unless you are planning a museum.  My theory is that since tax returns need to be kept for 5 years, it is reasonable to align other financial paperwork by the same criteria.

Each year when the tax is finalised and we receive the paperwork from the accountant, I remove the oldest year and rename the file for the current year so that we can collect any relevant  information in one place.

I sorted through the bank statements and found that they dated back to 2004 which means that I had not cleared any out for at least a couple of years.  This has now been rectified and I have a pile ready for shredding.  I will add bank statements to the list of things for an annual cull at the end of the financial year.

2011-08-25 04I keep folders of instructions, receipts and warranties for all of our appliances and equipment.  I check these from time to time and remove the details for anything we no longer own.

Keeping the paperwork under control seems to require constant vigilance, otherwise it can very easily get out of control.  It is a fine line between hoarding everything and retaining what is required by law, such as tax returns.

What documents do you keep and why?

Anticipation of Spring (and Spring Cleaning)

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We are lucky to live in one of the few areas in Queensland where we can really witness the change of seasons.  We have a relatively short winter but the changes in the garden which herald the return of spring are no less dramatic. This morning as I gazed out of the bedroom window I noticed the first copper-coloured new growth on the previously barren cedar tree.  Here is a photo I took before I left for work. 2011-08-24 01I used the zoom to try to capture this for you.  Just out of view is the still bare liquidamber tree.  Bare, that is, from a distance in the photo.  I think I noticed the faintest hint of the bright green of new shoots.  I will probably not have an opportunity to check it closely until the weekend. Of course, the dwarf peach tree is now in full flower as well. Spring brings with it the promise of new growth and renewal but what is it that seems to inspire us to ‘spring clean’?  Is it the ability the throw open the windows and let the fresh air blow through the house after a winter of being closed up? Spring cleaning is one thing, but I have been consistently sorting, tidying and decluttering our home, regardless of the season, for what seems likes ages now.  Despite this constant effort, ‘hotspots’ continue to develop.  ‘Hotspots’ are those places (usually horizontal surfaces) where clutter seems to gather.  The common ones seem to be the end of the kitchen bench, desk in the study and beside the mirror in the bedroom. 2011-08-24 02I am trying hard to address these places where the clutter lurks by minimising the stuff that is available to collect there and by having a place for everything.  Little things make a difference.  We get very little snail mail these days as we have tried to get most bills/statements/information sent to us online.  We also have a ‘No Junk Mail’ sticker on our mailbox which dramatically reduces the paper which comes into the house.  This has made keeping the pile of ‘to do’ paperwork much easier to keep under control. Spring cleaning, a massive purge, constant decluttering or a combination – what is your strategy for stopping the stuff overwhelming you?

The Fragility of Life

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I had no idea what I was going to write about tonight until I spoke to Belle on the phone earlier this evening.  She sounded tired and upset and I discovered that in the past couple of days she has had to face the reality of the untimely death of a former work colleague.

She is also struggling with the knowledge that she had not made contact with him recently when the opportunity arose.

It is a timely reminder to us all that life is fragile and we need to make the most of our time with friends and family each and every day.

Weekly Challenge – Week 15

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Week 15 – I have decided to remove all the tasks that have been completed.  The list now will just be the ones I haven’t done from previous weeks 😦 and the 4 new ones that I have added for the coming week.  They will retain their existing numbering so you will be able to gauge how long I have been procrastinating over some of them.  I have put notes in italics by way of explanation below some items.

What I have done so far.  Scroll to the end of the list to so the new additions for this week.

3. Create a spreadsheet for future holiday packing needs

17. Follow up what I need to do to change my superannuation

23. Organise quote to have poinciana tree lopped and mulched

We have almost decided that we can do it ourselves.

25. Clean windows on southern side of house

I have done more than half of these

32. Thin out and re-pot bok choy seedlings

I have planted 12 of the strongest ones in the garden and will stagger planting of the rest.

35. Make a vinyl cover for the newly-created day bed

39.Arrange to close a bank account that is no longer required

44. Defrost small freezer

47. Take glass jars to op shop

I will give them to a specific person who would like them but can’t be done till next month.

51. Add more notes to my Christmas letter draft

54.Search for accommodation for weekend in Sydney next month.

56. Clean and pack away the doll’s house I received through Freecycle (for when the girls are older).

57. Create costume for themed dinner at work conference.

58. Hem a pair of trousers for Missy

59. Finish sorting out my stash of fabric.

60. Refashion and hem 2 pairs of jeans/trousers that I bought at the op-shop.

Re 57.  The theme for our table is Woodstock – any tips or suggestions will be gratefully accepted.  I am trying to make it as cost neutral as possible.  It will be interesting given that the original Woodstock festival was in the summer – hence some participants wore VERY little in the way of clothing.  We will be re-creating the event near Ballarat at the end of August -BBBRRRR!!!!  I am thinking of a long skirt – might buy a floral sheet from the op shop, tie-dyed t-shirt and a long over-sized cardigan.  For warmth I will add tights underneath the skirt and perhaps a crocheted beret.  Off I go to search the internet for a pattern and try to refresh my crocheting skills.

Til next week. 🙂