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.

TV break and toys

Also on the topic of TV, we've had a couple of TV free days this week. I've been relying on the tele a lot lately to keep Hamish occupied, because I've been quite tired and he was sick for a few weeks too, but I figured it was time for a rest from it.

It made for a more peaceful house, although it did mean a bit more work for me in finding things to keep him occupied. My aim is to keep TV to use as a backup when really needed, rather than part of the daily routine.

I've packed away the bulk of his toys too - the loungeroom was way too crowded with them all, and I think he was getting bored with a lot of them. Plus picking them all up at the end of each day is getting harder for me as the inside baby gets bigger! I'm going to try just getting a couple out each day, so there's less to tidy up and he can focus a bit more on one or two things at a time.

Vale, VCR

Adam and I decided to get a PlayTV for Christmas - it's a digital receiver for the Playstation 3 and allows us to record TV to the playstation, and fastforward and rewind live TV.

It only cost $125, which is far cheaper than the alternatives (Foxtel IQ or Tivo being the main ones) and we now have access to all the digital channels.

But - it means we don't really need the VCR anymore. I remember buying my first VCR back in 1996 before I headed off to uni - it was a big deal for me, partly because it was my first big purchase once I'd started working, but mainly because I was seriously into television back then.
I used to tape and keep all sorts of junk - Medivac being an example that springs to mind!

That VCR ran for years. It died a slow death - it used to freeze up and I'd have to take the lid off to get it working again. We put up with that for some time before eventually getting a new one. Even then, it was years before I could bring myself to chuck the original one in the bin.

So I feel sort of wistful and sad to pack away the VCR today. I know all technology will have its day, but this is one piece of it I am a little emotionally attached to.

Easy biscuit recipe

I've made this a few times lately, it's so easy and versatile.

125g low fat margerine
half cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 egg
Whatever else you've got that you want to chuck in!

Mix the margerine and sugar together, then add the egg. Sift in the flour and mix it all up.

Then add in whatever you want to add some flavour - I've used oats and sultanas for a healthier snack, and choc bits, cocoa and orange essence for a less healthy treat!

It makes about 20 small biscuits - which don't last all that long around here...

Advent

I've been inspired by Nicole's advent posts to think about what we're going to do in the lead up to Christmas.

An exciting part of Christmas growing up was all the food in the house - Dad would go all out to stock up on tasty treats. The loungeroom would be heaving under the weight of it all - and we'd spend the school holidays making it all disappear. Yum! So this year I think we'll do something similar, although on a smaller scale. I'll buy a few extra things each week leading up to Christmas, and then we can hoe in from 25th on.



I've got some nice Christmas choral music, including a copy of Handel's Messiah, and these will be on high rotation for the next few weeks, particularly around dinner time.



And we're doing our own advent calendar - not every day, but once a week or so Hamish and I will sit down to do some craft, and then stick it up on the wall. This is the first one:







The other ones will use these verses:

• 'We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him, the iniquity of us all' Isaiah 53:6 (Craft - cotton wool sheep)


• 'When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.' Matt 2:10 (craft - stars of course!)


• Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favour rests.' Luke 2:14 (craft - angels)


• 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' John 3:16 (Craft - manger scene)

Ned Kelly

Mo Wrap

Adam finished up Movember in style. He was happy though in the end to lose the mo, as it was getting itchy!

He raised about $250 and is really grateful for everyone's support. It was lots of fun - for him and for those of us who got to watch it grow!

Iris

On The March

The cicadas are out in force at the moment. We've found quite a few shells in the garden.

I used to love collecting the shells from Grandma and Papa's place when I was a kid, I remember doing it around Christmas time and filling icecream containers with them.

Kids used to take live cicadas to school in buckets to show off their collection, until the teachers banned it. There used to be all different sorts of cicadas with funny names, like Floury Baker and Cherry Eyes. I don't know if they are all around anymore, we only see one or two varieties here.

Mo Town Update

Adam's mo is gaining ground - he's keeping it neat and tidy, and it's thickening up. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mess with him.

Although he tells me he saw a man at work yesterday, who had a much more serious looking mo, who told him 'You need training wheels for that thing!"

Hamish was a little uncooperative this week so we resorted to technology to show what he would look like if we could get him to stay still long enough to 'grow' a mo!

Scary

Hamish has a bit of a fascination with opening and shutting doors at the moment. He goes into a room, shuts the door, then knocks on it till I open it, to his great amusement.

This evening, he shut the bathroom door.

And managed to lock it.

I was only a few feet away so I heard the click of the lock and rushed over, but couldn't open the door. He was locked in the bathroom! Aargh! I freaked out and didn't know what to do - I rattled the handle but it wouldn't budge, and Hamish started to get upset.

I ended up ringing Adam who left work straight away to come home and bust the door open. In the meantime, I stood on one side of the door telling Hamish a story to keep him calm, all the while frantically trying to get the door to open.

I realised the handle had a little hole on the outside, and pushed a hairclip in it - something clicked and the door opened. What a relief!

Hamish rushed out, not looking overly concerned. I on the other hand, burst into tears. Hamish thought I was laughing, so he joined in with hearty laughter of his own.

I saw him playing with the lock a few minutes later, so I think he must have pushed it out of curiosity. Will definitely not let him anywhere near it in the future!

Blue Food

Yesterday I made some playdo. It was super easy - I was surprised by just how easy in fact! Flour, salt, water, oil and food colouring.

Hamish enjoyed squishing it and pushing things into it...

...and of course it didn't take long for him to see what it tasted like!

(Not good, apparently.)

Silly Me

I should have known gardening with a toddler and two big dogs on the loose was a bad idea.

I dug a hole - Saffy joined in. I put the plant in the hole - she kept digging. In the same spot! So the poor plant got a bit squashed. And I had to heave her out of the flowerbed - she was very reluctant to move!

While this was going on, Hamish pulled a whole lot of little baby green tomatoes off the plant. Then he sat there biting into them, in between laughing at my attempts to move Saf.

I did get all the plants into the ground eventually, but not without a lot of huffing and puffing and telling the dog to bugger off...

The Mo - one week in

Here Comes the Mo - Day 1

Today, being 1 November, is the first day of MOVEMBER. Adam has started his mo - here he is with Hamish (who is currently mo-less but not for long!).

I think Ad's mo will be somewhat disturbing once it's a bit bigger...I don't know if you can tell from this photo but he's going for a Chopper Read style (!).

Thanks to those of you who have sponsored him already!