An Award

Stephanie from Striving for a Simple Life has honoured me with this award. It's the first time I have won anything in such a long time, so thank you Stephanie.

As part of the award I am supposed to tell you 7 things you might not know about me.

1. I used to be a competitive swimmer and have represented Australia as a junior swimmer. (Of course now I would struggle to swim 2 laps in a row)

2. When I first left school I was a Nanny and worked for some fairly prominent families in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. (Most of the people I worked for should not have had children, they were either insane or never home)

3. I was bullied most of the way through primary school by another little girl called Jackie Wilson. She made my life an absolute hell. (I hope one day she reads this)

4. My biggest love is reading. I'll read just about anything. (Except comics)

5. I used to go shopping a lot. (hangs head in shame)

6. I wish I had of had 3 daughters. (I left my run too late)

7. For the first time ever, I love where I live. The Blue Mountains of NSW.

Thanks again for the award Stephanie. It means a lot to me.

One Small Change

This year I've decided to start making small changes to become more sustainable. One of the first changes I have made is to move away from disposable products as much as I can. I bought these handmade dish cloths from Made It, which is an Australian website that sells handmade items. These dish cloths are 100% cotton and they wear really well. I love them so much I just ordered some more. I only use one a day and then throw it in the wash. I hope never to buy Chux again. Next month its time to get rid of the paper towel.

Handbag Voyuerism

Libby from Life is a Journey and Not a Destination asks what is in our handbags? Well, mine is very boring I have to say. But I embraced the challenge as it was a good excuse for a cleanout.

Handbag in the background is brown leather. I love brown bags as they go with everything and can do Summer and Winter.

Keys are on a blue lanyard as I've found they are easier to find this way and I can also throw them around my neck if I need to.

I have a small date diary as when I run into people they often say what are you doing on such and such a day and without my calendar there I have no idea. This allows me to answer people on the spot.

Nurofen and quickeze. What can I say, I hate to suffer.....

Nail file....obvious

Wallet and phone....obvious

Breath mints for after a garlicky lunch out.

Wipes...for Rhianna.

Little black wallet....for those girlie things you (or your girlfriend) may need when in the middle of a good shopping day out.

Tape measure... I never go into Spotlight without it.

See....boring.

I might think of something unusual to put in there in case I am ever hit by a bus and they check my bag. I'd just like one person, even if it is a paramedic, to think I had an interesting life.

Any suggestions????????

Back into a Routine

Well the Summer school holidays are officially over and this morning Miss Rhianna excitedly got her uniform on and demanded to be taken to school - pity it was only 7am

From school, it was straight to the charity shop. I hope to make this a fortnightly event until I have fully decluttered the house. This was this mornings stash. This is my clutter and my girlfriend Julie's clutter combined. We sort through each other's clutter before we hand it over to the charity shops in case my clutter is her new treasure and visa versa.




Then to the local fruit store. I am trying to buy local as much as possible but even in the fruit shop you have to check labels. Now, some of the oranges were from Orange (funny that) which I consider local but some of the others were from SA. You have to be careful.





A bit of crafting at lunch time. I chose an easy project that took me just half an hour. I made another pillow from an old jumper for my son's bedroom. Dead easy.



Then finally into the garden. I hung these pots by the pool as the possums won't come near them. At the moment I have strawberries in them and they have been a bit pitiful. The fruit is nice but only about a handful of strawberries a week. Today I will give them a tidy up and a good water.

Then my day is over and I pick up my little cherub from school to hear all about Year One.

Hope you've had a nice relaxing day also.

Home Schooling

Another blogger has asked me why I don't Home School (HS) Rhianna considering I am a teacher and I do believe that HS is superior to a Public School Education (PSE). The question did make me think about Rhianna's attendance at the local primary school.

PSE is a fairly recent development in human social development. It wasn't so long ago that a child Rhianna's age would be half way down a coal mine helping out the family financially. And even if she was born into a wealthy family, children were educated at home by Mum and Dad.

As PSE took off, children were sent to specialised education institutions know as "schools" where children were separated from parents and daily life in the community. Later on, children were synthetically grouped according to age and peer scaffolding became a limited educational influence.

Research shows that academically children who are HS do better (by a considerable margin) than most PSE kids.

PSE is all about "outcomes" and test performances. Actual education is a by-product (if you're lucky). If you doubt this, ask yourself if you can remember how to do a calculus equation. Or better still, how often you use that equation in your every day life?

There is no beureaucracy with HS and your child learns at a flexible and tailored rate that is suitable for THEM.

Research also indicates that when children go to school they stop trying to emulate the behaviour and values of their parents and start to emulate the behaviour and values of their classmates. Now, this is great if your children's friends are future Mother Thereses'. Not so good if they are Charles Manson wannabes.

Bullying is a huge incentive to HS children. The effects of bullying can be catastrophic to children and I would not hesitate to HS my child if she was being bullied.

So why does Rhianna go to school?????

Well, at the age of 3 Rhianna saw children at a pre-school and begged to be able to attend. There were no tears or clinging to Mummy's leg. No, not even a backward glance as she raced off to play with the other kids.

And so she has remained. A kid who thrives on being with other kids. As my only other child is 18, she does need the company. And she LOVES school and everything about it, the uniform, the rules, singing, assemblies, scripture and sport. She embraces it all.

But if ever there came a time when she didn't I would re-evaluate our positon.

Plus, I figure we do such a lot of incidental teaching here at home anyway that she gets the best of both worlds (for now).

What are your thoughts?

Pink Fluffy Cuteness.

I found an old pink fluffy jumper in the local op shop the other day. The sort of jumper one would have worn with pride in about 1989. For $2 I snapped it up. Rhianna had been complaining that her desk chair was uncomfy - especially in Winter. Problem solved.

One cute pink pillow made and on the seat in half an hour. I had some iron on strawberries hanging around that I added at the last moment as a bit of interest.

One old jumper repurposed.

Old Books for New Books

After the declutter, I have many books to get rid of. Some go to the op shop and some that are fairly new or in good conditon I take to my second hand book store for credit.


My favourite store is Jimmy D's book store in Springwood. The lady who owns the shop is Magda and I am never out of there in under an hour as Magda and I love to talk books and of course everything else (like how a roast chicken used to be able to feed a family of 5 with leftovers for sandwiches the next day).

Anyway....... Magda takes my used books and gives me credit to use within the store on other used books. What a fantastic deal for a bookworm like me.





This time I had Rhianna with me so my book selection time was short. I got one book to take away on holidays with me. "Things I would like my Daughter to Know."



No trip to Springwood is complete without a stop at our favourite coffee shop for morning tea.


So all up a very pleasant morning with my girl and only spent $10 on milkshakes and melting moments.

Recycled Crafting

One thing I love to find at Thrift stores (op shops) are old craft books, especially those printed around the 1970's. They are full of easy craft ideas using easily accessed household items.

I love to spend time with Rhianna crafting especially when I know we are helping to reduce our carbon footprint and better still, we have a whole morning of fun without spending a cent.

These are 2 of my recent craft book finds at the local op shop at East Blaxland.

This is one of the first projects we made from the book on the left. Obviously it is an owl but it was made from an old Milo tin from the recycling bin. We already had some felt scraps so we were good to go. We use it as a money tin. Every time we have some spare change we throw it in the owl and then when we have a reasonable amount we might enjoy a treat such as take away Thai which we all LOVE.

Pictured below are 2 little magnetic pockets we made from old jeans. We cut off the pockets and attach magnetic strip to the back of them using fabric glue. We then decorated them using a bit of ribbon and some fabric paint to decorate. Rhianna puts her lunch order money in her name one and her pocket money (obviously) in the other to use when we go to the shops.


A morning's worth of entertainment for nothing and we managed to use up some resources that would have otherwise gone to landfill. So proud!!!!!!!