Life is a Journey not a Destination

Kevin is very excited cause we FINALLY got the solar panels he’s been wanting for a long time - just it time too. We will get a rebate from the government of around $8,000 (I think) but was scrapped in the new budget which came out the day these were installed. Kevin is feeling pretty pleased with himself. He’s now having fun monitoring how much power is being produced.

Another change has taken place at the front of our home. Mum & Dad were doing some gardening work and had leftover pebbles which they offered to me. We’ve had to keep topping up the bark in the front garden so jumped at this opportunity. Looks fantastic too. So much better than bark!!! Thanks Mum & Dad - they not only supplied the pebbles but did the hard work of putting them on the garden. Not the best photo but you get the idea.

Well, it’s that time of year when the veggie garden is getting a bit bare and I can let the chickens out for a scratch around in it. They were so happy when they realized they could dig in the garden (they have no grass in their area as they’ve destroyed it long ago). Rounding them up to put them away again is another story. Rosie was funny, keeping a real close eye on them. They were only allowed in one half of the garden so I had to watch them carefully as well.

Well, I’ve been putting the final touches on my goals for 2008. I really am excited about the coming year. It’s going to be a big one. Both Kevin and I should reach our goal weights and probably have some cosmetic surgery, we have a trip to Queensland and a trip out to Ayres Rock to look forward to, and I need to start planning our trip to the UK in 2009, not to mention all the little things I hope to achieve. I’m not going to make limiting computer time a goal this year cause now that I’ve discovered blogs that it just not going to happen. I am an addict but I do feel the inspiration I get from my favourite blogs really does enrich my life and makes me want to do more and be better. And that has be a good thing :-).

HOME/GARDEN

- Work on household routine - need to incorporate detailed cleaning

- Continue work in veggie garden esp. winter production

- Grow potatoes (have large pot just waiting to be used)

- Get worm farm going again (may need new system)

- Work out how to get seedlings to grow in green house (no success so far)

- Shop for fruit and veg at local markets /continue to buy organic where possible

- Learn to make more things from scratch i.e rolls, tortillas

FINANCE

- Start paying extra of mortgage (by mid-year)

- Start saving for UK trip (due to start next week)

- Stick to budget (you never know it might happen one day)

PERSONAL

- Learn to sew (either in classes or on my own)

- Take a vegetarian cooking class at Nan Tien Temple ( have form printed out, just have to mail it off with a cheque)

- Volunteer work - still trying to find the right thing for me (already do uniform shop and canteen at school)

- Make more hand-made presents (those I made this seemed to be a big hit)

- Organise ( and keep organised) my scrapbook space (can’t wait for my Big Picture Scrapbook class with Wendy Smedley to start)

- Develop knitting skills - make something other than scarves

- Read more about simple living

- Get back to working out 6 days a week (3 cardio, 3 weights)

- Get out and enjoy life more (already started on this one)

Well, with all the rain we’ve been having (almost every day) our garden is growing very well. The following photo was taken in August when we had just started our Summer planting. Look how much greener the grass is due to all the rain.

Here is today harvest. I think we’re nearing the end of the zucchini’s (check out the HUGE one below), the tomatoes are in abundance and the pumpkins and cucumber are just about ready ( have already picked a few). We’ve got lots of Spinach, carrots, onions, and some strawberries..

Okay, so I just couldn’t resist buying one (okay, two) of these gorgeous canvas bags. For my fellow Aussies I got it in Big W.

On Sat I cleaned and tidied much of the kitchen - including re-organising the ever messy tupperware drawer. Looks great now doesn’t it. Well, this is one of the drawers anyway - the one with all the lunch containers.

Yesterday we took the girls to see “The Game Plan”.  I really enjoyed it and it was a good way to spend a few hours (especially when you can’t eat :-)). While we were out I spotted, and bought, this fabulous book.

Today I’ve cleaned all of downstairs so that house is lovely, clean and tidy. I would have to have done upstairs as well but wanted to get a workout in at the gym. Also spent some time in the veggie garden. I picked some strawberries and the first (very little) zucchini. The tomatoes are cute small green things and the cucumber is just starting to flower.  Here’s some of my pickings from last week.

A few weeks back we bought some Organic Fair Trade tea bags - they came without string - which I thought was a great idea. But after thinking about it some more I realized we didn’t really need to buy tea bags at all. I could use the new little tea pot that Kevin bought a few months ago. Then today I also found another little gadget Kevin had bought which will be perfect for doing my single cups of teas. Not sure if it’s all in the mind but a pot of tea seems to taste a lot better. And on an evironmental side I find I’m putting the loose tea into the tub for the worms rather in the tea bags going in the bin.

Finally got more seeds planted and put into our little green house. Lettuce and snow peas and something else (I think beans) have popped through in the garden. Here’s a couple of photos of our “yard” (the rest is the pool area and chook yard).

Today Amy had her friend, Aaron, over for a play so I decided it would be a good opportunity to get into the veggie garden which has been rather neglected. I pulled out all the stuff that had gone to seed or was almost out of season. I’m left with capsicum, mini-eggplants, parsley, and the last of the lebanese cucumbers. I fetched 4 of our chooks and put them to work. They had so much fun digging through the garden and eating all the bugs they could find. I loved sitting watching them. Was probably a nice change after their backyard - which is just a big muddy quogmire.

Unfortunately my heel spur is not much better and I’m still in considerable pain. Had a nice weekend with the family. On Saturday Kevin didn’t work and we took the girls for lunch at the food court, then to see “Meet the Robinsons”. We all enjoyed it. Then at night we watched “Jump In” on Disney. This was a lot of fun and it was quite amazing to see all the double dutch jump ropes tricks. Then yesterday we had the Burkes over for lunch. It was a lovely afternoon with all the kids playing so well together.

Kevin and I have been watching the UK series River Cottage www.rivercottage.net . Great show. Hugh’s main purpose is trying to educate people about where food comes from - he breeds his own animals for slaughter and while I still don’t believe we need to kill animals for food, I think his message is something that everyone who eats meat should here. The show we watched last night was called River Cottage Treatment and he has 6 chicken eaters come live at his farm - he shows them how his chooks live then takes them to a battery farm (where the chooks can barely walk - some can’t), an organic farm and a free range farm. By the end of the show even the hardest case is convinced to buy free-range or organic chicken. And it took the death of one of his own chicken to convince her that the animal that died for her dinner deserved a decent and humane life.

On a personal note the whole sugar thing has gone out the window but it’s something I still want to persue. At the moment I’m really concetrating on getting the house organised and under control. OUr veggie garden is growing really well - probably due to the “bit” of rain we’ve had the last few weeks and our chooks just keep on growing. Still trying to work out how to post a picture. They are just the cutest girls.

Another website I’m enjoying exploring is http://www.happyfoody.blogspot.com/

Well, it’s been a while since I updated. Life moving along pretty swiftly. Had a nice weekend. On Saturday I went for a bike ride in the morning, got some fruit & veg, pottered a bit, then had my book group in the afternoon. Kevin (with the girls help) made another veggie garden. Poor thing, he was so exhausted. I would never have asked him to do it on his own. A friend was supposed to help but didn’t and Dad was out for the afternoon, and so was I. It looks great and I feel very loved that he made it for me. So of course, Sunday was spent buying seedling for the garden, then planting them in the afternoon. The girls also got fitted for their snow suits - they look so cute - and we had lunch at Chili’s. We finished off with a spa - looking out at the new veggie garden. It was a really nice weekend.
This week has been going as normal - except Amy has a cough and has been waking me up at 5am with her coughing. So I’m feeling pretty tired. Getting everything organised for the snow trip - we leave Friday morning. Then we’ve got Christy’s party the next weekend so it’s pretty busy around here. I’m off now to do some scrapbooking while Christy is at preschool.