This morning while I was washing my hair with my organic shampoo and conditioner I found myself thinking about organic products. Particularly the fact that the jury is still out on weather organic foods/products are really any better for you than non-organic. My thought was that even if they’re not (though I do believe they are) they are certainly better for the environment.

My newest project is buying organic cotton over normal cotton as it one of the worst things we grow on our planet. I’ve found I can get a bit of organic cotton clothing at Target so it’s still affordable. I saw an add last week for organic cotton towels so I’ll buy them when mine need replacing. And I recently bought organic cotton balls - when I thought about the fact I was going through 3-4 each day during my skin care routine.

My regular blog readers will already know that we get organic fruit & veg (what we don’t grow ourselves) delivered by Doorstep Organics and I buy whatever I can organic from the supermarket. I would say at least 2/3 of  our diet is organic - maybe more. We buy organic milk but not organic butter (I did for a while but it was a bit too expensive with amount we go through - i.e. one dd who has buttered toast for ALL main meals). Even if it is no better for us - it is better for the environment ( and the cows in the case of milk). And I do really notice that the organic fruit and veg last MUCH LONGER than that bought from the supermarket. I’m guessing that’s cause it’s straight from the grower to me and not hanging around in a cold room somewhere.

I was also very excited the last time I was at the beauticians to find out they will be stocking an organic skin care range. At the moment the one i use is natural but not organic.

Anyway, if you do don’t buy organic yet I challenge you to have a think about it. If not for your health, then do it for the health of the world.

I can’t tell you how suprised I was when I happened to look out the back and saw a duck jump into our pool. I ran pretty quickly to get the camera and went outside to take some photo. Then another one came out of our garden, watching her for a while (not caring in the least about me or the dogs), then jumped in for a swim as well.

Today offering included actual muffins - banana!

You can read about Amy and her friend Aaron’s take on Muffin Tin Monday on her blog. She has started writing quite a lot so you might like to check it out. Christy has also started her blog. It’s funny the way kids write and what’s important to them. Great to have their perspective.

Last weeks menu plan went pretty well. On Saturday we ended up having take away Chinese and last night we had a warm bean dip with organic corn chips - something light and easy. This week I’m hoping not to have to buy too many groceries so I’m trying to use what I have in the house. I’m also trying to follow Belinda’s example to try more new recipes.

MONDAY: Veggie Fingers (bought frozen), potato, corn cob

TUESDAY : Vegetarian Rice Pilaf

WEDNESDAY: Mexibake (from Planning with kids)  ** NEW

THURSDAY: Quesidillas

FRIDAY: Veggie Curry

SATURDAY: OUT

SUNDAY: Cheese on Toast (or from freezer)

For more great menu ideas visit the Laura at the Organizing Junkie

We started our escape by driving to Sydney. Bondi Beach to be exact, where we stayed on Friday night. We had a lovely room overlooking the beach.

After Kevin did a bit of work - it is a work day after all - we drove over to Fox Studios where Dralion is playing. We had a wander around the shops, eventually stopping at Gloria Jeans for a hot chocolate.

At 4.30pm it was show time.

This is the forth cirque du soliel show that we’ve seen and we were still blown away. They take acts that you’ve seen before and totally transform them. The trampoline act (where the performers almost walked up the wall was amazing) and the hoop diving was unbelievable. One thing I know is that after seeing people perform like this you’ll never need to go to animal circus again.

After the show we had a hot corn cob and bought some pasta to take back to our hotel room.

We spent the night watching music videos (there was NOTHING on TV and we didn’t feel like paying $17 to watch a movie we could rent for $3) and eating dinner in bed.

On Saturday morning, with no little puppy to wake us up, we managed to sleep in till about 6.30am. We lazed around for awhile, had some cheese on a roll for breakfast, played on the laptop and later went for a walk over to the beach.

We got a cup of tea and a friand and sat and people watched. Such a busy place - even in Winter.

After an hour we headed back to our room, checked out of the hotel and drove into the city. We parked our car next to theatre and walked, first to Haigh’s chocolates, then to a coffee shop Kevin wanted to visit, then to Borders. We had some lunch in a food court and on the way back to the theatre bought a new printer. How’s that for an impluse purchase. This is a little one for me to print photos -  a Cannon Selphy ES2 - it’s sooo cute!!!

It was rather cold so I got a tea at Gloria Jeans before the show. We were seated much closer to the stage than the last time we saw Billy Elliot - which was really great for me as I could actually see people’s faces. The show was just as fantastic as last time and I’m so glad we got to see it again.

We left Sydney and arrived home around 6pm, after picking up some Chinese to have for dinner. It was nice to see the kids and dogs again. We finished up our day watching The Water Horse with the girls.

Kevin and I are escaping for 2 days and 1 night. We’re staying at the Swiss Grand in Bondi (where I don’t think I’ve been since I was a teenager) and going to see Cirque Du Soleil - Dralion this afternon and then Billy Elliot (yes, again - my birthday present from Mum) tomorrow afternoon.

Kevin has a work meeting this morning and I have a few things I want to get done (including going to the gym if I have time), before our planned time to leave at 11am.

This is a job I’ve been wanting to tackle for a few weeks now. I’m pretty good and do go through our wardrobes on a regular basis. But this time I was ruthless. If something didn’t look good or is never going to look good, out it went. Some were thing I bought as I was losing weight and actually never wore cause they didn’t really do much for me. Amy was off school today (sick) so I got her to look through her wardrobe and we got rid of anything she doesn’t like (later we and go through and check what’s left actually fits). I also went through bins of Amy’s old clothes to see what might fit Christy for Summer, so she has a pile of clothes to try on. Later I’ll do a list of what I need to buy for the girls. I think all I need is some dressier pants (have plenty of casual ones). Oh, that bottom row of clothes are clothes that “almost” fit.

This is what I got rid of. I love those red shoes but they are NOT comfortable.

And this is from the girls

I also tidied and cleaned all the bedrooms so I’m feeling VERY tired now. It took from 9am till about 2pm.

Todays offering included :

Corn Relish dip, Carrot, Rice Crackers, Drumsticks,Laughing Cow Cheese, Marshmellows, Chocolate biscuits, Watermelon, Lamingtons, Strawberries and Banana bread (made by my best friend, Leanne)

To see more muffin tin Monday ideas this week visit Kiddio.

Missed a few meals last week. It was a funny week with the kids sick and Kevin late a few nights.

MONDAY : Pasta with Mushroom Sauce (Cheese sauce for kids)

TUESDAY: Baked potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, cheesy cauliflower

WEDNESDAY: Chili Con Carne

THURSDAY: Sour Cream Quiche

FRIDAY: AWAY (without the kids!!!!)

SATURDAY: Nachos or mexi-bean wraps

SUNDAY: CHeese on Toast or from freezer

SOUP : Pumpkin, Cauliflower Soup

…. staying away from the computer.

Having kids home from school and feeling lazy this week has found me sitting on my backside in front of the computer for far too many hours this week. In fact according to rescue time I have already logged over 26 hours since last Sunday (and it didn’t count Thursday for some reason). That’s a whole day on the computer - mind you Amy has been using it a bit as well so it’s not ALL me. But today I am going to turn it off (now that’s I’ve read most of my blogsa and checked my e-mail). Instead I plan to do some scrapbooking, maybe start work on my Christmas Notebook (since quite a few bloggers have started talking about Christmas in recent weeks and I’ve already bought a few presents). I also need to vacuum, help the kids tidy their stuff up and get a few groceries for lunch tomorrow (we’re having visitors). Okay, I’m hitting the shutdown button as soon as I publish this. And I won’t be back till much later this afternoon - I PROMISE!!!

UPDATE : I managed to stay away from the computer until 4.45pm but for some reason I still didn’t seem to get much accomplished. I did have a nice day though.