Meat diapers

That's what I've decided to call those little pads that soak up the meat juices in the packaged meat you buy at the supermarket. Whenever I have to peel one off to throw in the bin, I feel like I'm handling a wet nappy!

Something about our house that I'm really thankful for

Having lots of linen cupboard space. We actually have 2 linen cupboards - a standard size single wardrobe one and a big double size one. With having 5 people in the family There is no way that I would fit all our linen into the standard size single one - 4 sets of sheets per child, 2 bathtowels each, swimming towels, tea towels, hand towels, spare blankets, spare sheets, spare pillows...

Hospitality culture

When I invite people over for a meal, have the kids friends over to play, or do some baking/cook a meal for someone, I don't expect the gesture to be returned. It isn't the motivation for me doing it and it doesn't even enter my thinking when I consider who to invite etc. But is this standard thinking of the general population? I think not, with the wide variety of mum's I deal with I continually get the vibe that there is an invisible tally card kept of hospitality given and received. So when I have people over or give people some food, they are grateful but at the same time seem to think that this means they will have to repay the favour at a later date (as they assume that is what I expect/what is expected of them from society). Does this mean people are less inclined to accept my invitations to come over or create feelings of guilt within them when they recall they haven't 'returned the favour' from a past gathering? When from my point of view, I enjoy cooking, enjoy having people over and want my house to be a place where my children's friends enjoy spending time.

And on the flip side, I frequently wonder if when people do things for me eg. drop the kids at school or kindy, are they doing it because they want the same favour returned or are saving up brownie points for different favour. Because the reality is no matter how much I would like to return the favour (not because of a 'invisible tally sheet' expectation, but because I truely care about them and are grateful for their hospitality), sometimes returning the exact same hospitality/favour isn't possible and that is why I am so grateful in the first place for them offering.

What is your experience/impressions?

Well it didn't happen

I never got those pants of Ben's patched before lunchtime. Originally I thought I didn't have enough fabric to patch them (the uniform shop lady actually gave me the exact matching material to patch them with). But after talking to my Mum (the sewing expert in our family), we decided to modify my plan which means I have enough material, but need to make a trip to Spotlight to get some fusing material (stuff that glues 2 pieces of fabric together). So it will have to wait until next week now.

Forgot to add

Having a breadmaker can be a bit tedious - having to put stuff in the breadmaker each night when we'd rather be asleep of blobbing on the couch. But I must say I find it a lot easier to chuck some ingredients in the breadmaker than dragging the kids to the supermarket or realising we need bread for the morning when the supermarkets are closed.

Our favourite bread varieties

It will be 6 months next month since we got our breadmaker. We have got into a rhythm/routine making a loaf of bread most nights (putting it on timer to be ready to take out when we get up in the morning) and sometimes a 2nd loaf in the morning (depending if Peter and I have leftover dinner to eat for lunch or need to have sandwiches). We are a bit like our bread, as we our with our dinners - we like lots of variety and trying out new recipes. But there are a few that we make regularly and really like. They are:

• Honey bran
• Cornmeal (great for toasted sandwiches)
• Garlic herb
• Wholemeal rye
• Mixed grain
• Oatmeal

Others we have tried (and have or would like to make again) include:

• Parmesan Sun-dried tomato
• Vanilla sour cream (great substitute for brioche - slightly cakey bread that can deal with sweet flavoured accompaniments such as chocolate and berries)
• Rasin cinnamon
• Nutty prune wheat (I have prunes leftover from making christmas cakes)
• Zucchini wheat (great for using up an abundance of zucchini or the ones that grew too big to taste good eaten on their own)
• Dried apricot
• coconut
• pumpkin and walnut

I have also tried a couple other non-standard breads (ie. do dough in breadmaker and then divide/shape before putting in normal oven to bake - Brioche and Chocolate chip Hot cross buns.

It's a good feeling...

To get tasks done that have been hanging around for a while and I haven't got around to yet. Just totally decimated my sewing pile this morning - a few pairs of Joanna's winter pants/skirts that the waist needed taking in and a elastic headband that she had bought with some of her pocket money, that needed to be shortened. Still need to patch Ben's school pants (long ones for winter) and shorten the elastic in his school shoes - I hope to get the pants done before lunchtime (the shoes I can pick up and do anytime as I don't have to get the sewing machine out for them).

Trying something new

I've just made my first savoury crackers. I used Destitute Gourmet's 'Cracker snaps' recipe and it is dead easy.

1. Put dry ingredients plus butter in food processor;
2. process;
3. add water while processor running and form soft dough;
4. roll out dough to desired thickness
5. cut into desired shapes - easiest using a rolling pizza cutter (like I did) or pasta cutter for fancy edges
6. put on baking tray
7. bake for 15 minutes

It is so easy that I have made a second batch straight away. The first batch has poppy and sesame seeds in them (as the original recipe suggests) and in the second batch I'm trying garlic and Parmesan cheese flavour.

Seeing as the recipe is so simple I think I'm going to try and make it regularly during the term to use for the kids morning tea instead of buying savoury crackers from the supermarket. I'll vary the flavours - I'm thinking sundried tomato or cumin or cracked pepper...

These crackers are also healthy as they have no sugar and only 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a whole batch, unlike a huge majority of savoury biscuits in the supermarket which are both high in sugar and fat.

Second batch have just come out and they taste great! Will just have to see what the kids think of them now.

Going to the circus...

Zirka Circus is currently in town - they're in Hamilton for nearly four weeks. They've been cruising around Hamilton putting their signs up on whoever's fence will let them put them up. Being on a main road, they asked us if we would let them put one up - Mel was a little hesitant because we don't usually let people put stuff on our fence. But then they offered a free family pass to the circus... and we were sold. There was no way we would have considered going otherwise - we don't have that much money lying around for something like the circus! Ben was as excited about the circus as I've ever seen him get about anything - he was bouncing off the walls!

The show itself was pretty good - lots of cool stuff like clowns and juggling and balancing and swinging from the top of the tent. The kids certainly enjoyed it, although Naomi was too tired to think much of the second half - she ended up falling asleep.

I'd be happy to recommend it - even though we wouldn't have had the money to go if we hadn't got the free pass. A handful of photos are at flickr.

Ben's first term

It's school holidays, as Mel has mentioned... but we didn't mention much about how school was. Ben's been rapidly learning his reading and writing, which have both improved significantly since the start of the year. He's also recently become far more interested in drawing - probably because he's more proficient at holding a pencil properly, so he has more control over what he draws.

At the final school assembly, Ben also received his first award - he got an academic achievement award for numeracy for his class... I guess he's following family tradition! Here's Ben getting his certificate from Mr Mossop, the principal:

Run off my feet...

The school holidays have started and I feel busier than ever. And it isn't caused by having the kids around more. Since school finished on Friday, I have spent a number of hours in the roof installing insulation, helping Peter try and fix the gears on my bike, a couple of hours driving to pick up a toddler bike seat I bought of TradeMe (even accounting for petrol cost, it was stacks cheaper than buying a new one). We've returned stuff to the library, gone and had 2 new tyres put on the car, done grocery shopping. Now this afternoon I'm going to need to spend in the kitchen, making fejoia puree (to make into fejoia curd at a later date), cook up some apples and rhubarb (to put on our museli for breakfast, now that berry season is basically finished) and packaged and freeze up the meat I bought on special. I've also been starting packing lists for our camping trip - trying not to forget anything, but without taking unnecessary stuff.

phantom outage

At about 11.30am today our internet connection disappeared. I thought the service provider's server must be down so for the rest of the day kept on restarting the modem see if the connection had been restored. 5pm came and still no connection - this was one extremely long outage and I was starting to experience withdrawal symptoms. I then just happened to look down at the ground when walking past the phone line socket in the wall and noticed that the line had been pulled out! So it wasn't any problem with the service provider - the modem just wasn't connected to the phone line! The only thing I think must have happened is that Naomi got her doll's stroller caught up in it and that pulled it out without me noticing. So now I am happily reconnected to the rest of the world.

Feathers flying...

We introduced our new chickens to the free-range lifestyle today. And that means encountering two big, bad bruiser chickens around the garden. There were definitely two distinct camps: the new chickens and the rest. The new ones hung around the one side of the house the whole day, although they did seem to be pecking at a variety of food sources. Anytime they came too close to one of the older birds, there was a bit of a squabble and the little ones would lose a few feathers from their back. There didn't seem to be any major injuries, and there's plenty of space for them to run away, so hopefully no harm done - they just get used to the hierarchy.

This evening the new ones didn't seem too keen on squeezing into the hen house with the other two (besides the fact that they probably didn't really know that it was their new house!). We caught two of them and inserted them through the door. The other one went missing - we had to search the garden before we found it huddled under a bush. It got pulled out gently and pushed through the door as well. We didn't hear any squawking from inside, so hopefully it's too dark for them to fight in there. We'll find out in the morning if we still have 5 chooks!

I just bought a bike

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=368668555

Been thinking about it for a little while. Reasons:

• Ben is so fast on his bike now that it is pretty impractical for me to walk when he is riding.
• With petrol prices being $2.20/L currently, I'd like to try and reduce our petrol bill by replacing some of our car trips with cycling - ie. some of the trips which are a bit too long for walking (because it takes too long or greater effort because of the longer distance).
• Some of the to and from school trips that I make walking at the moment can take up less time if I ride.

Obviously there are a few details apart from me buying a bike, before I can actually fulfill the reasons for buying the bike:

• need to at least get a kids bike seat for Naomi (and possible a bicycle tow-bar to attach to Joanna's bike for the longer trips)
• once the cooler and wetter winter weather sets in, I won't be able to use the bike much (we found last winter that Ben didn't cope riding if the temperature was below 5C).

I can do it!

I ran 5km this morning! (well actually 4.94km, but I wasn't about to look like a freak running laps around the gym car park just to make up the distance) It's the first time I think I've done that. I'm a sprinter both biomechanically and psychologically, so 5km used to seem like a marathon to me.

Finally done!

I think I have finally finished the kids church term plan and worksheets for next term. It's taken me about 15 hours to get it all together and it needed to be finished by the end of this week so I can hand it over to the people helping to teach next term. And yes, you read right - a couple of other ladies at church have volunteered to help do the stuff with the kids that happens in the hall during the sermon. Peter or I will still have to do the kids talk in church each week (nobody else at church likes to get up in front of everyone), but it will mean a lot less weekly preparation for us and also we will both be able to sit and listen to the sermon too.

I'm in!

I've got around to entering the Rotorua Marathon. It's on in 2 and a half weeks time, and as usual, I don't feel like I've done enough running. Oh well, too late to cram in too much more now!

Last batch

Made my last batch of Zucchini jam for this season. Pulled the zucchini plants out on the weekend in our gardening frenzy., so there will be no more zucchinis from our garden. If your wondering what Zucchini jam is (the name doesn't really give you any idea, especially when we usually use zucchinis for savoury dishes)...it tastes and has a consistency like lemon butter/curd. We eat it on toast, on sandwiches; I've made zucchini jam and dark chocolate scrolls and apparently you can substitute it for lemon curd in lemon meringue pie (I haven't tried this yet, but might over winter some time). And the really great thing about it is it lasts so much longer than lemon curd, because it is actually a jam, it has a shelf life of 12 months!

New girls...

We've been wanting more chickens since two of ours died... well actually, we've been wanting more eggs. So, Mel and I decided that we'd get some more chickens, and today was the day to just do it. We've got three pullets (young ones) this time - they're not quite fully grown yet. I don't think they're quite laying just yet, but hopefully they do soon and we'll be getting more eggs again.

For now, we've put them in what used to be the salad garden so that they're isolated from the other two (otherwise there may well be chicken murder committed - they really can be quite violent!). After a few days we'll have a go at integrating them with the other two - and we'll see if feathers fly.

Gardening again!

The weather forecast for today was sunny, so rather than getting cooked in the ceiling space installing insulation, we decided to spend a morning in our garden which was needing plenty of attention. We pulled a whole lot of dead stuff out (tomato plants that are dying back etc) and the kids helped to plant some seeds.The other patch of excitement for the day was having a couple of hot air

balloons floating right over the top of our house - they were close enough that the kids were waving at the people inside, which they enjoyed!

Got a bleeder

Cut my thumb while cooking dinner last night and today it just decides to start bleeding at random times...very annoying.

Sudden death...

My mp3 player which I use to listen to music at the gym was working on Monday morning...now it is not. It won't turn on, it won't charge, it is totally dead. I've only had it for 2 years and it has been well looked after in a protective case (it's actually a lowepro case made for those very skinny digital cameras, but also works well to clip onto my pants at the gym). There has been no warning signs of anything at all being wrong with it.

I'm a bit lost without it, I don't like the music choice at the gym and also I realised today that I like the psychological aspect of being in my own little world even when in a large room with a bunch of other people. I used my phone to listen to the radio at the gym today and Peter pointed out I could use my phone to listen to my music at the gym. Problem is I don't have a mini SD card for my phone or a case to be able to attach it to myself somehow (the one I use for my mp3 player is not long enough for my phone). Although I do like the idea of streamlining my music listening with my phone as I already take it into the gym to record my workouts.

Insulation update...

Well the insulation situation has progressed quicker than I indicated yesterday. Yesterday ended up being a very cloudy and cold day, so instead of putting off my great adventure into the ceiling, I decided to get up there after the kids were in bed and get it over with.

It was a bit of effort to wriggle down into the space, but once there, although it was fairly squishy there was enough space that I could rotate from lying on my back to my front (as opposed to the 'beached whale' situation that Peter felt like he was in on the weekend). I also had taken up some prodding sticks to help, the most useful I found to be our long pruning saw pole (without saw attached), as it is longer than a normal broomstick. The result is that I installed insulation to cover the whole of our bedroom ceiling that is humanly possible to access (so some of the far reaching edges aren't done, but unless you lifted the roofing iron there is no way of getting it in there) - in 1 hour! Although this morning the backs of my arms are covered in bruises (which may make some people concerned if they don't know how I got them), plus I really think they need to sell 'butt pads' at Bunnings - I had ones for my knees, but have matching bruises on both thighs from sitting on the joists. So now the hardest part is done, the rest should be a lot quicker and easier (and we think we like the doing it in the evening thing after the kids have gone to bed).

The other discussion that Peter and I have been having as a result of all this is...What would the commercial insulation companies have done? We had 3 companies come and give us quotes last year and each of them just poked their head through the manhole and shone a torch around. Then based their quotes on an external measurement of the area of the house and the thickness of insulation needed. Using this method means that none of them would have been able to see around the corner of the L to see how tight and limited the access is to that end of the house. And it would be very rare to find an insulation installer smaller than me...so what would have they done?

a) discovered job was going to be harder than first thought and try to charge us more money; or

b) discovered the inaccessibility and told us that it wouldn't be possible to insulate that part of the house - and our room would stay totally uninsulated; or

c) discovered the inaccessibility and just shove the insulation in as far as they could reach and not tell us - and our room would either stay totally uninsulated or at best still feel like a fridge as it would only be partially insulated.

Our conclusion is that our decision to DIY has been the best decision we could have made and not just from a financial point of view (although this was the major reason we originally made the decision to DIY the insulation). Because we aren't ruled by job sheets or profit lines we know that our room is insulated as best as possible without ripping out the ceiling or taking off the roof.

Insulation discoveries

On Saturday morning, Peter and I had our first adventure into the ceiling to install some insulation. From previous adventures into the ceiling for various DIY jobs, we knew it was a bit squishy with some joists and cross beams in weird places, but had never been right down and around the corner (we have an 'L shaped' house), to the part of the roof over our bedrooms. We had already decided that the first place we wanted to insulate was over the bedrooms, so that is the end of the house we ventured to with the insulation and we discovered....

a) The reason our bedroom felt like walking into a commercial cool room last winter is because there is absolutely no insulation in the ceiling above our room (the rest of the house has a thin layer of loose fill insulation that is about 30 years old).

b) To access this part of the ceiling space will involve me going on crash diet and losing all of my 'insulation' if I want to move around easily - or just suck it in and feel like I'm stuck in a small wardrobe.

Peter was the one to venture down that end the other day and found it basically impossible to install any insulation down there. At the next possible chance we have to get up there, it will be my turn to get in there and try.

I'm not a fan of small spaces which aren't easy to exit at short notice (it's not a phobia, but I wouldn't choose a job that had me frequently working in small, tight spaces), and the small space feeling is made worse by the stale air that you find in ceiling spaces and even worse by having to wear a dust mask while installing the insulation.

So in preparation I am trying to be positive about the whole situation. If Peter was able to get into and out of the space, then I don't need to fear getting 'stuck' (I'm much smaller than him). I also discovered that the small space feeling is worse if I'm having to make a physical effort, but if I stop for a minute or so to rest, I feel much better again. I'm also thinking of possible techniques and objects I can use to make installing the insulation as quick and easy as possible. (The joists down there run perpendicular to the access point!)

Anyway, we need to wait for another time when the ceiling space isn't too hot (cloudy day or early morning) before I can try anyway. I'll let you know how I go...

Adjusting to change

Daylight saving ended on Sunday morning. Since then Naomi has been waking up by 6.30am (instead of 7/7.30am), we think because she is used to judging 'get up' time by how light her bedroom is - which does not change much day to day (although it is getting later as we head into winter). So due to this she is now sleeping and extra 30min during her afternoon nap (so still getting the same total number of hours sleep in a 24hr period). So at the moment I'm getting extra time to rest and get stuff done in the afternoon without interruption - although it gives me less time to do noisy jobs (ie. using the food processor).

My version

The other day I mentioned making White Chocolate 'Berrymisu'. Well here's a picture. (It took us a week to eat it)

Broken into...

Our car has been sitting outside for a couple of weeks now, thanks to our garage having a pile of ceiling insulation stacked inside it. And last night it got broken into (the car, that is!). Or at least someone rummaged through it - it's possible the boot wasn't properly closed, so it didn't lock properly or something like that. We think that might be the case, seen as there appears to be no damage around the locks - either it wasn't locked properly, or the thief was very good at breaking in very cleanly!

Anyway, there was no cash to be stolen, and the only thing missing appears to be a USB thumb drive which had some music on it. Apparently car stereos are no longer worth stealing. And neither are kids music CDs. Or Naomi's hair clips.

Balloons!

The past few days has been the Balloons over Waikato festival - an excuse for a whole lot of hot air balloons to get together and fly each morning. Two years ago I took Ben and Joanna to one of the events, this time we all went. We got up slightly earlier than normal and took some breakfast with us, so that we were there in time for the "mass ascension" - the idea being that they all take off at around the same time.

The kids had lots of fun watching all sorts of balloons - they were just a little tired by that evening!

A full set of photos are at flickr

Holidays

My energy and appetite have both gone on holidays today...so I really feel like I need to go on holiday too!