Veggie Gardening

On the weekend I bought a small tray of Beetroot seedlings to go in the garden, I'm a big fan of Beetroot and whilst I know it will grow easily I like to start with seedlings and then also have some sown direct. I'm an inpatient gardener so like to see things coming up and growing straight away. As we go away for a lot of the summer it's hard to grow veggies, I don't like to ask the neighbour to water as they already look after our animals and established fruit trees. In my veggie garden I like to try to plant things that will be harvested by the time we go away.

Today I was looking after a friends child while she went to work so my little friend and I reported the Beetroot. It was a nice activity for her and it got another job done for me. I'll water them for the next month then plant out when the soil is warmer. There were a fe beetroot so that were extra to our pots so I think I will plant those out in the garden under cover and see how they go. Hopefully the cover will stop the kangaroos from eating them.

To Do List

1. daily check on registration process
2. Update resume
3. List 10 things on buy swap and sell (pre sorted items in white drawers)
4. Organise paperwork in 1 hanging file in filing cabinet
5. repay camping buddy deposit for campsite booking
6. Restock camping pantry
7. Tidy games cupboard
8. Dig over 1 of front veggie beds and make ready for planting
9. 2 bags for the op shop
10. Buy ag pipe
11. Dig lines for ag pipe
12. Help with Fathers Day prep at kids school

Side Hustle

Helping us keep above the line this week was hubs getting some extra work.

Last week a mutual friend posted on facebook that he needed someone to help with a market stall, $25 an hour for 2 hours work. Hubs snapped it up, it was doing something he liked - selling to the public so he really enjoyed himself which was an added bonus.

Then I had managed to line up 4 more hours paid work also at $25 an hour for him moving barrows of mulch from someone's drive to their back yard. He enjoys a bit of physical labour, his daily job doesn't lend itself to being outside or doing physical things. He went for the first job straight to thd second.

So, he came home happy, tired but happy, it all went through his ABN because we don't want to do the wrong thing and only some of the cash has hit the account but we are happy as it will pay for the ag pipe we need for the outside work we are doing.

I took the kids to their weekend commitments, did a very basic grocery shop and then picked the kids up and hung with them for the afternoon.

Monday Madness

We had a full on weekend with kids sports and dinner with friends. All lovely and we were happy to do but today proved our undoing


This morning we all overslept and of course it was Book Week parade at school. Costumes were laid out in the spare room  on Friday but we just needed a little extra time to get things done before we left, face paint etc

I told the kids to focus on breakfast, lunch boxes and clothes

So now I'm back from watching the lovely Book Week Parade I have to blitz the house as none of our  morning routine has been started.

So I'm adding to this list as I complete jobs

*Open curtains
*make beds
*washing up done
*washing in machine
*laundry away to baskets
*tidy up book week bits that are laying around the place

***coffee break***

*fluff cushions in the lounge
*lay fire place
*take out recycling
*let dog out for a run
*put clean clothes in kids wardrobes
*sort out clothes for evening activities
*Dinner plans - home made pizzas






Now i have 3 hours until i need to leave to collect the children. I think i will focus on putting clothes away in my bedroom and giving it a quick once over. I shall put some music on (played via YouTube) and enjoy my time

Next week.

My to do list for next week...

1. daily check on registration process
2. Update resume
3. List local schools to take resume to 
4. Finish book week costumes
5. Bag up 2 bags for the op shop (pre sorted items in the garage)
6. List 10 things on buy swap and sell (pre sorted items in white drawers)
7. Organise paperwork in 1 hanging file in filing cabinet
8. repay camping buddy deposit for campsite booking
9. Restock camping pantry
10. Tidy games cupboard

This is obviously above and beyond general house maintenance and cooking. I don't expect to get everything done but I always like to have more than I need on my lists in case I make good headway and have spare time. Anything left on my list will move over to next week.

Fuel

Hubs had to use my car last night as he'd dropped his house keys somewhere and needed to find them so while he dashed off again I put the kids to bed and hoped that he would find them quickly.

This morning of course it meant we were driving to school on fumes as id been keeping my fuel with just enough to get us to pay day!

 Got there okay and then onto the nearest (most expensive) servo.

Popped $10 in and then drove to the cheap servo and filled up with $50 :D  I want to support the cheaper servo, i want them to thrive and i want the competition to stay in my town because slowly but surely the bigger servos are dropping their prices because nobody is going there anymore

Returning To Work

It's been the elephant in the room for a little while now but hubs and i had a good money talk.

Financially I need to go back to work our eldest will be heading to secondary school in a few years and with that fees go up. I want to be in a financial position that means we have school fees paid from our savings. Currently we make it from 1 pay day to the next with lose change (if we are lucky) left over.

It's been a paperwork overload recently but now I'm sitting back awaiting the outcome of my paperwork to see if I get my teachers licence after nearly 10 years.

Update since typing the first part:

Yesterday the Teaching Institute emailed me requesting another piece of paperwork. I found it, copied it and took it to the local primary schools l where a friend of mine is the Principal. she certified the document and then on my way out for the school run in the afternoon took it to the post office and sent it off on its merry way. Feels good to be able to sit back again and wait for them to let me know the next step.



Also, hubs came home from work yesterday and told me that he has been asked to step into the Assistant Principal role for 8 weeks while another teacher is on a placement. This is good for us financially  but of course it's not local and staying at this school isn't part of our goals for the family. The good thing is it gives him AP experience for this next job application which will be great to have on his resume. This will mean an extra $350 a fortnight which will be used in the following ways ($1,400 in total)



1) $350 put aside for our camping in September
2) $100 split for hubs and I - we have not had incidentals money in a long time and i know he wants to buy some new socks. Mine will be spent on a gift for Father's day for him from the kids
3) $20 owed to eldest
4) the rest will go to the credit card

Groceries - Half Price Shopping

This fortnight toilet rolls have been half price at Woolworths, I was really trying to avoid the grocery store and to use from the pantry this fortnight but this was a bargain worth popping in for.

I bought 3 packs of 10 rolls at 3.50 per pack

and I also bought 2 packs of kitchen towel

The kitchen towel will probably last us 12 months as we rarely use it but find it handy when there is vomit to deal with as I personally don't like washing things with vomit. 1 roll will go in the camper and the rest will stay in the house

Whilst i was there i also picked up a bag of dog food, Ive noticed what when we buy dog food from Aldi our little fluffy gets breath so bad it could melt your skin off. I keep her food to under $5 for a bag of small breed biscuits.  I also picked up 2 packs of burgers that hubby and I like to eat as they were 2 packs for $12 and we can only get them at Woolies, they don't have rice flour or potato flour in them so are great for those that watch their carb intake. I cant find a photo of them online but when i get them out of the freezer I will take a photo.

Hello

First post,  new blog documenting my daily life as boring as it may sound at times it's my way of connecting with the world outside my home

We had a lovely day in the garden today. This week I have a truck of clean fill arriving which will see the start of the new patio area being created. Hubs and I Pulled down a fence line so that the truck can get in with good access as close as possible to where we would like the fill dumped.

The lawn got a good cut but some areas were a bit too wet and now it looks like a race track out there. The boys collected fallen branches to put on a fire pile, we promised to light it today but the rain started to come down so we left it for another day.




For lunch today I used some English muffins from the freezer to make mini pizzas wit the kids, the eldest loved them, the youngest didn't but at least he only half heartedly disagreed  with the "you don't have to love it but you do have to eat it rule"

For dinner we had toad in the hole, it was nice but just needed a little longer in the oven, the kids didn't notice and gobbled it down without any discussion.

I ironed all of hubs work shirts for this week which saves me a job on Monday.

In bed tonight I wrote my to do list for tomorrow, lots of bitty jobs