20 April 2011

Losing track of the days

I can't believe it's Wednesday already and the school holidays are half over for us. And to add to my surprise another two days is Good Friday and the Easter long weekend, which is longer than normal with Anzac Day tacked onto the end.

I lose track of the days during holidays, pity help me when I don't have school terms to guide me! And I imagine I'll be worse when Wayne retires and we really slow down! I can hardly wait. We've slowed down a lot, especially since AJ's accident. It will be 10 years in November since I stopped wearing  a watch and clock watching.  It's amazing how stressful the "tick, tick, tick" of a clock can be. I absolutely do not miss it at all and I can honestly say that I've only been late for set appointments a handful of times since then.

Don't get me wrong, we still have appointments to keep and important dates to remember, but we use the calendar and a diary for dates. And clocks - look around you. How many clocks do you have in your home? At work? In the car? We are surrounded by them. The only place I go with any regularity that doesn't seem to have a visible clock is my local Coles supermarket! And if I need to know the time when I'm there I can check it on my phone.

So without clock watching and not seeing TV too much this week, I have lost track of the days.  And here we are, and I have so much to share.

It's been a fairly frugal week for all of us. AJ has been at Uni and Wayne of course has been working, so Tom, Hannah and I have been left to our own devices. Tom hasn't been out, he's enjoying staying home for his holidays. He did order a game online, using his own money of course, and saved $30 by pre-ordering so he's very happy.

Hannah met a school friend this morning and they had morning tea and did some window shopping. Neither girl had money to spend apart from a couple of dollars for their milkshakes but they had a ball. I now have a list of clothes my girl thinks she needs and she's sure I can make them for her! 

She told me all this in the car. It was raining so I picked her up when she was finished and we came home via the op shop.

Get Organized month has seen us bless our local op shop with a few things and today we dropped off a box of suspension files (the filing is finally organized and manageable), a CD tower that was gathering dust, a bag of magazines and a bag of old blankets for the "dog blanket" box. 

I've been joking with the kids about the de-cluttering that's going on. I've told them that if they see me coming towards them with a garbage bag to get moving - if they stand still they'll be in the bag and gone before they realise!

Over the weekend Miss Hannah wandered out and asked if she could knit a scarf. Hmm. Over the years she has tried knitting various things - scarves, squares, dishcloths. She gets bored with the repetition and ends up getting frustrated before she finishes. And finish she must, in our home if you start something you must finish it. It may not always be finished the way it was originally meant to be, but it is always finished. We've created some of our best  things by finishing a project differently.


Anyway I ended up knitting her a scarf. We had some lovely black 12 ply wool so it knitted up really fast. I used a pattern I found online, courtesy of a link sent to me by Cheapskater Carol Ryan and it looks so nice I've started one for myself, using up some yarn left from a jumper.

While Hannah finds knitting boring and repetitious, I love it. I find the repetition relaxing and it gives me a chance to think and ponder about what's happening and where we're headed and other stuff. It's like mowing the lawn, mindless repetition that creates the perfect condition for just thinking.

I've also knitted up some Easter eggs. My niece isn't allowed chocolate, so I did some hunting around and found this very cute Jean Greenhowe pattern for  knitted Easter eggs. They only take about 30 minutes each to knit, and look so cute. You only need scraps of yarn so they are perfect for using up project leftovers. I've made her a family - Mum, Dad, daughter and Grandma to represent her immediate family. I know she'll love them and spend hours playing with them.  Boo has the best imagination, something that keeps her amused for hours.

We were supposed to have Shepherds pie for tea tonight but I pulled the wrong package of meat from the freezer. I told you I had my days mixed up, I took chicken out, thinking today was Thursday. So we had chicken tonight instead. Chicken Teriyaki and fried rice actually. I had chicken casserole on the menu but that didn't appeal at all. I've had hay fever for a week or so and my taste is quite odd so stronger flavours are what I need. I used to buy Teriyaki sauce and it was nice. Then I found a recipe and with a few tweaks it has passed the family taste test and my budget test and it's all I use now.

When we have teriyaki chicken there are never leftovers, this sauce is so good. If you've always used the bottled sauce, try this recipe, I am sure you'll love it.

For afternoon tea today I made the Buttermilk Bannock, from the Cheapskates Forum. It is very nice warm with honey and even nicer toasted with butter. Thanks Jacksoncamp, it's passed the family taste test so I'll be making it again.



So there you have it. It's Wednesday night, I know, I've checked. I've been busy knitting and working on the book and Cheapskates.  I've done some cooking and some cleaning and had some lovely conversations with the kids and kept our home.  And all while I didn't know what day it was.  A blissful, simple, frugal few days.

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