Tag Archives: family

Sharing the Bounty

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We try to grow enough food so that we can share some with our extended family.  Some of our efforts are more successful than others.

Here are some mandarins and avocados that I took to Belle.

2012-06-16 01We usually have plenty of eggs, although this depends a bit on the season.  At the moment we have an abundance so I can give them away to various family members.  There are always many more lemons and limes than we can use so I have taken to putting them in the wheelbarrow outside the gate with a sign on a piece of cardboard indicating that they are free.

One of my planned projects is to make a more permanent arrangement using a sandwich board style of sign with the option of changing what is ‘advertised’.  I hope to be able to show it to you once I get around to making it.  Don’t hold your breath waiting, though!

It is great to be able to share.

Family Comes First

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My complete lack of blogging for about a week has probably left some of you wondering if I am OK.  I am absolutely fine but have busy with other facets of my life.

Last weekend my mother spent the weekend with us.  Whilst this is not unusual, we had a weekend full of activity although it was limited somewhat by the heavy rain (190mm or almost 8 inches) on Friday and Saturday.  We managed to dodge the worst of the rain when we went to the local Agricultural Show.  There was dairy cattle judging to see, poultry breeds to check out, gorgeous alpacas and one of my favourites – the wood-chopping events.  We spent a lot of time viewing the various fine arts and crafts and also the produce section.

The washing doesn’t end just because it rains for a few days but it does become a more challenging task.  Hanging it on an airer in front of the fire meant that I just put a few things in the dryers for a short time to finish them off.

I cooked and prepared food for meals on the weekend and also for future meals and snacks.  Cooking from scratch really does give you an appreciation for the food you eat when you know the time and effort that has gone into the preparation.  I made pastry (and a steak and kidney bean pie), Lemon Delicious, pasta (to freeze) , orange and poppyseed muffins and pumpkin scones.  The Duke squeezed a bucketful of oranges from the tree and made bread.

There was plenty of time for relaxation, too.  We played several games of Scrabble and learned lots of new words in the process.

Then it was back to work on Monday and for the last couple of days I have been staying with Belle and help to look after Miss O and Izz before and after daycare while Belle has done some extra work.

I will be home tomorrow and get back into blogging in earnest.  Thank you for staying around – there will be some interesting posts and photos coming up.

What has your week been like?

Tough Love

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There comes a time when you are not doing your children any favours by constantly shielding them from the reality of the world and the consequences of their actions.

That time is now.  Belle has been struggling financially since she has been separated from her partner (19 months).  This has been as a result of a combination of factors, including residual debt from the relationship, limited income, Cetrelink challenges and inconsistent child support from an unreliable ex(even though it is collected through the Child Support Agency).  But most of all it has been her own inability to face the reality of her situation and understand that expenses must be less than income or you will get into strife.

We have supported her emotionally and financially every step of the way, however, tonight I ran out of patience and think I have finally made her realise that the numbers simply don’t add up.

The Duke and I have discussed various options with her and we have started to put together a plan which will see us take on some of her debt but it will allow her to be able to live within her means (as long as she is very frugal).  The responsibility will be entirely her own rather than us propping up her finances on an ad hoc basis.

If she does this using the assured income (paid work plus Centrelink) then when she does finally get some more child support payments they will be able to be used to buy clothing requirements for the children, create an emergency fund and pay modest amounts off her debt to us.

This is not an easy task but one that has to be done.