The 'Good News' Lady

I posted a while ago about a lady who stopped me in the street to tell me how much God loved me. I saw her again this morning when I was waiting for a bus, and she once again stopped to share the same news.

It's actually the third time I've encountered her, so this time I asked her if she stopped everyone she met.

She told me that she gets up every morning and goes for a walk and will stop and tell everyone she meets on the walk that God loves them so much, and wants a relationship with them. She said she felt really called to do it, and steps out in faith.

She's very polite and not pushy, although it is a little in your face to hear what she has to say. I find her confronting and a curiosity. I do like her message.

Serial Killer

Q: What do you NOT want to find in your carport after a nice breakfast out?

A: The mangled body of a guinea pig - minus its head.

You may remember from back here that our cats have a bit of a track record in this department, This morning's find was truly gross - and strange. The body was sort of squashed into a hole in the wall, looked like someone had stashed it there for future use. I don't think it got there itself (what with the missing head and all) but it does seem a little out of character for our cats.

Obviously they are the main suspects though. I feel bad for the guinea pig - and I wish whoever owned them would start protecting them a bit more - it's not that hard to secure a cage so a cat can't get in.

Bucket head

Hamish and I went to the supermarket today, and I bought a bucket (and some other stuff!)

On the way out, he grabbed the bucket and put it on his head. It covered his whole face and halfway down his chest.

So I walked out of the shops pushing a bucket with legs sitting up in the trolley. He thought it was pretty funny - and so did I!

Sir Spam-a-lot...

...has paid me a visit. All my old posts have had comments added in an asian script. Like, 300 odd posts. I'm not going to bother going back and deleting them all, it would take too long. If it keeps up I'll add comment moderation back on.

Hippie Tales #2: Home Made Yogurt

Another slightly alternative thing I've started doing is making my own yogurt. We go through a fair bit of it (say 2 ltrs a week) and the cost was starting to bother me.

So I bought an Easi-Yo kit from the supermarket and have been brewing my own yogurt instead. It's a big thermos that you fill with hot water and put a canister in, containing water, existing yogurt, and powdered milk. I use the last few spoonfuls of the previous batch to start the new lot off each time. It takes about 7 - 8 hrs to set and then I put it in the fridge, and when it cools we've got fresh, natural, healthy yogurt.

It costs around $1 a ltr and tastes good - each batch is a little different but generally it has a natural/greek yogurt flavour, and if I add some fruit and either honey or vanilla essence, it tastes great.

Hippie Tales #1: Poo Free

I've gone poo free - shampoo, that is!

A while back I came across some posts on the blogosphere about not using shampoo, and thought I'd give it a go.

The idea is that shampoo strips your hair of its natural oils, which makes your scalp work extra hard to replace them. This is turn makes your hair oilier than it would be otherwise, forcing you to wash more often. And because the oils are stripped each wash, we condition to try to smooth out our hair again! This process is not all that great for your hair, and can be expensive to maintain.

So now, instead of washing my hair with shampoo, I use bi carb soda. I mix it up with some water and rub it in, then rinse. It works really well, is cheap, and doesn't contain harsh chemicals.

So far I've continued to use normal conditioner, but yesterday I tried the alternative instead - rinsing with a bit of apple cider vinegar. It seems to have worked quite well, although it did feel a bit strange to put salad dressing on my head.

Being pregnant helps keep my hair healthy but even taking that into account, I have to say that going poo free has been great - on the budget, and on my head!

Sticky Lemon Yogurt Cake

Michelle has tagged me for a Christmas recipe meme. I am way late in posting, but here is my recipe for a Jesus Birthday Cake (NB it can be any sort of cake you want, in fact it was a Hamish Birthday Cake about 6 months ago, but at Christmas time it's a Jesus one). The recipe is from Good Weekend magazine from a while back, and tastes better if you make it and then leave it in the fridge for a day. I've taken the details below from this site.

Yoghurt Cake with Lemon Syrup
(serves 8-10)
This recipe makes a lovely light lemony cake to enjoy mid afternoon, mid morning or mid meal, if you’re so inclined.

125g butter, softened
200g (1 cup) caster sugar
3 eggs
zest and strained juice of half a lemon
200g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
200g (3/4 cup) natural yoghurt
1/3 cup water
150g (3/4 cup) sugar
thickened cream for serving

Cooking time: Allow over an hour until it comes from the oven, but eat the cake cool
You’ll also need: a 20cm cake tin

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. It may look a bit curdled but don’t worry, we’ll fix that. Fold in the lemon zest and flour gently and then fold in the yoghurt too. Use a spatula to scrape into a lined 20cm cake tin, making the centre a little lower compared to the edges. Bake for about 30-40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
While the cake cooks, heat the water, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. When the cake is cooked, leave it in the tin, poke a fine skewer into the cake all over about 30 times and spoon the hot lemon syrup over the top. Try to spoon it so it soaks into the holes evenly rather than all soaking into the edges around the tin. Allow to cool and serve with lightly whipped cream, coffee and a grin.

Baby thoughts

I've got a few months to go till the baby is born. I've been thinking through what I've learnt about parenting and babies in the last 18 months - this is what I've come up with:

• You have to do what works for you, and be prepared for this to change regularly. I think I've learnt a lot about where my limits are, and when to change tack. This is mainly in relation to stress. If something isn't working, then I'm a lot quicker to change it than I was 18 months ago.
• Lack of sleep affects everything and it's really important to prioritise rest, even if it feels boring. My mind really doesn't work very well when I'm sleep deprived - I can't finish thoughts or make decisions easily, and I get quite negative over time.
• People who tell you to forget about the housework are good intentioned, but they're not the ones sitting there all day staring at it. Do what you need to do to feel sane - by the same token, it's fine to drop your standards as much as you think appropriate!
• Babies are dependent. This means sacrificing many things in the short to medium term as your baby grows, but it won't be forever. Independence will come with time.
• As a child grows, we move from totally protecting them from the world, to training them to cope in the world.
• God knows the heart of a mother and there is plenty of comfort and encouragement in the bible for the tough times.
  
• Parenting is humbling, and totally rewarding at the same time.

Happy new year

Hope you had an enjoyable time over the festive season!

I had an unplanned break from blogging in December, mainly due to tiredness. It was a bit of a difficult month all up - just usual pregnancy weariness combined with a (wonderful) husband working long hours, and a toddler who is always on the go! And I developed low blood pressure which means I have to spend more time than I'd like lying down and resting.

I do find in times when it all is a bit too much the struggle I have is to rely on God's strength, not my own. I have to watch my thoughts or I get down in the dumps, thinking I must be doing a bad job because I can't manage everything as well as I would like. I have this picture in my head of someone living my life, but doing it perfectly, and I just don't measure up!

It is one of the challenges of childrearing to find things to do when you're not really well, the weather sucks, you don't have much money, and you and your kid/s are bored bored bored! Finding that balance between getting near enough rest, while not developing cabin fever, is the tricky bit.

It's something I'm working on, and praying about. I want to find the joy in everyday life, because it is there for the taking. Just have to wade past the crud in the way.