kebeni

do you know your gemstones?

2012-01-27T22:17:00.000+11:00

Found a small box of stones and fossils at the tip the other day. Have posted pics below in the hope someone knows what they are......

Rhodonite?

fossil

is this quartz chrystal?

Calcium Borate. Incredibly light, almost weightless

Iron ore

Don't forget the flowers

2012-01-26T19:51:00.000+11:00

Moving to a new house that has great gardens is so exciting! There is constantly something pushing it's way through the earth or popping out on the end of a branch. The colours are constantly changing and there is a beautiful fragrance as you wander around the garden.

passion flower

hydrangeas

not sure what this one is

lavender

Liliums - aka Christmas Lillies

Adam's Needle and Thread Yucca

Sweet pea (sentimentally a favourite)

looking back

2012-01-24T15:12:00.000+11:00

I am child free this weekend and spent the morning visiting two garage sales, an art exhibition and a bit of newspaper reading and coffee at the local cafe. tomorrow I am doing a tour of tip shops with my friend Steve who is a mixed media artist. (bare in mind that I wrote this on Saturday even though you are probably reading it a few days later)

Despite my earlier post about visiting real life I have actually devoted some time this afternoon to blogging. I also thought I would go back and see what I was blogging about on similar dates over the past few years.

Last year I was writing about bogans and how they are so fashionable. This was bought on after our trip to Melbourne and meeting up with friends and discussing the latest trends etc

In 2010 I didn't blog for all of January, we were busy visiting family and beaching it by the look of things. I did do a big catch up post at the start of February though to make up for it.

Back in 2009 we had just moved back to Tassie from Melbourne, there were a lot of emotional posts around this time and mad packing. I wrote this one once we had arrived and were staying with my parents in Bicheno waiting for our house to become vacant to move into. The last few years have zoomed by and have mostly been good ones!

I have chosen two posts for 2008 trip down memory lane as I found them both to be strong reminders of how I do want to live. For all of 2008 I took part in a non-consumer challenge. This meant setting down some ground rules regarding purchasing and I am proud to say I managed this for the whole year. In fact, re-reading the post has prompted me to think seriously about doing this again and I think it deserves a post of it's own. The other post for that year is a "pay it forward' post and I am going to do this again as I think it is a lovely idea of sharing.

I can't really go any further back as the posts are archived and photos not available. I started this blog in August 2007. Before that I had a home ed blog and a knitting blog that I decided to combine rather than have to manage more than one blog. Funny that now I have three!

Tip chic

2012-01-23T22:16:00.000+11:00

Yesterday my mate Steve and I took a trip to t'other side of the river. We were on a mission to find ALL THE THINGS!!
First stop was Westbury tip/dump/trash site/rubbish disposal/recycling depot etc etc
Steve has a friend who works there on a Sunday so we got the opportunity to get down and dirty and do some scavenging and scavenge we did! Fortunately for us some one old who was a hoarder had recently passed and all her household goodies were there ripe for the picking (RIP Lady hoarder). We hit the mother lode!!
Next stop was the Deloraine tip shop. This is fantastic and I think every tip should have one. It is well organised soooooooooo cheap! You can also hit the rubbish piles out back that are sorted into timber, metal, plastic. Great for artists such as Steve and also for anyone looking for used building materials.
I came home with a car load of barbie stuff, heaps of books, Tupperware, a barrel worm farm, industrial light shade, sewing box, a perfect pair of red clogs for me, retro bag, box of fossils and gemstones and sun burn. We had a fabulous day and I thoroughly recommend both tips and the nearby Scottsdale tip that also has a shop on site.

back seats down and car chockers!

bratz house and barbie cruiseship

retro barbie house

she has now expanded her empire dramatically!

These stockings sell for about $10 a pair on ebay as they are original 1950's. We got a huge bag of them!

Industrial lightshades sell for $40-100 on ebay. I don't think this one will do really well as it isn't in the greatest condition.

Cute green bag, used to hold a hairdryer set I think as it still had a ronson warranty card in it.

As new sewing box, perfect as Nienna wanted one for ages.

veggie garden madness

2012-01-22T18:52:00.001+11:00

I love having a garden to play in. This year I planted the following with varied success:

Zucchini - going great guns and will soon be ready to pick.
Cauliflower- I no can grow this! They turn out spindly and flat.
Broccoli- harvested and eaten, going to plant some more!
Lettuce- first lot eaten by birds, 2nd lot grossly deformed but tasty. Will plant more
Tomato- the ones I planted haven't gone that well but the self seeded are mad!
Spring Onions- died
Basil- struggling. I think because these are in Styrofoam boxes.
Strawberries- wowzers! on average I am picking 1/2kg a night and they are great!
Mini Cabbage- haven't tried them yet but they are sooooo cute.
Corn- one plant survived the birds (cue horror music) and has 1 ear of corn on it.
Beetroot- done quite well and almost all picked.
Potatoes- going great in their tyre beds.

I plan on planting some more lettuce, beetroot and broccoli and possibly onions again.
The strawberries I have at the moment will soon become jam (shhhh).
Our one apple tree has heaps of apples so they will be shown the dehydrator and stewing pot.
I have been watching some pears growing over the fence from next door and will grab some.
Although we have a gorgeous amount of passionflowers I am thinking they are not so passionate as we haven't any fruit as yet. Will read up on them I think and see what the go is. Could be they are ornamental only.
The peach tree also hasn't fared well. I think it needs to be pruned correctly and will do that come winter. It has about 6 peaches on it and that is all.

Yarny goodness

2012-01-21T18:07:00.000+11:00

Nienna put an order in for a new cardigan. She is quite specific in what she wants and we finally found a pattern to suit her glamorous lifestyle LOL

I refuse to spend too much on yarn for her things as she is rather hard on clothes! We used the spot light merino which is a reasonable yarn and comes in great colours. I love the colour she chose too.

This pattern came from the Berroco Comfort- book for girls #291. I bought this ages ago at Tangled Yarns in Brisbane when I was up there for work. Heads up to Brisvegas folks as this store is awesome!!

I did the largest size in the Ferris pattern and did a short length with 3/4 sleeves for summer. I was quite pleased with how it turned out but gee I much prefer knitting all in one piece rather than having sew pieces together.

I really like the front bodice on this.

visiting real life

2012-01-21T17:11:00.000+11:00

I was laying in bed this morning thinking "OMG I must do some blog posts today!" Then I thought how absurd that was. Why MUST I do some? To prove that I am able to sit at my computer and write about the life I could be taking part in?

Blogging is weird isn't it. So many people blog nowadays, actually make money from it. And whether a writer or reader we become somewhat consumed by it. I did go through that stage of trying to join ALL THE MEME themes and join the forums and do the reviews but not for long. It became very much like a job that took far too much of me and my time. I certainly wasn't and never could be part of the "IT' I.T crowd. I admire those who can write well, are witty and entertaining. Those who exploit for want of attention I like not so much.

Exploitation of family can often be seen in blogs. As my kids get older I feel less and less inclined to blog about them or to show photos of them much. I respect their wishes and my daughter certainly lets it be known if she doesn't want something to go on the internet! My son doesn't give two hoots really but I feel that it won't be long and they will probably read this blog and I don't want to be an embarrassment to them or to hurt their feelings in any way.

So, yes. My blog posts are very spasmodic of late as I am enjoying our gorgeous weather, friends and family out there in real life.

off eating macaroons in the sunshine

Twas the nearly three weeks after Christmas..................

2012-01-12T14:36:00.000+11:00

and I have finally got my arse into gear to blog some stuff. Naturally it isn't my fault I am way behind, tis my laptop's fault. I had to take ALL THE THINGS off the lappy and do a factory reset, just to remind it that I am boss after all!
Then I had to put MOST OF THE THINGS back on, reload programs etc etc and photos. I mean what would a blog post be without photos! huh!

Christmas came and went as it usually does. Small people spent Christmas eve with their dad celebrating the day. My folks came up and spent two nights with us. Presents were swapped, tongues bitten ( :P ) and food eaten in vast amounts. All in all it was a lovely time and we may just do it again this year!

Nienna made gifts for everyone this year. I was spoilt and received three from her which included the framed drawing of the three of us (top left). Pop received a word game and Nanna a felted christmas picture. Both kids were able to up the quota of small, painful and easily lost bits again this year in the form of mucho lego, polly pocket and LPS. (see below)

some more tunage to tide you over

2012-01-08T12:25:00.002+11:00

Sharing some tunage

2011-12-22T16:56:00.002+11:00

a friend put this song up on facebook and I love the clip and the tune

Crazy arse baking 101

2011-12-17T21:37:00.002+11:00

It is that time of year again where we go crazy with baking and covering anything that can't escape in icing. Not to be found under last years bench mark we ~~went one step further~~ lost the plot and went doubly crazy-arse!

So, why should we be the only ones hey! Here are some delectable treats for you to make and share!

French Almond Macarons - yes you know you want to!

Ingredients

3 egg whites at room temp

1/4c caster sugar

11/4c icing sugar

1c ground almonds

1tsp finely grated lemon zest

5-6 drops of food colouring of choice (used yellow and think I should have put more in)

150g white chocolate chopped

1/4c cream

How to

Beat egg whites in clean bowl until peaks form.

Slowly at caster sugar and keep beating until thick and glossy.

Sift icing sugar and almonds together and FOLD into mix in two batches along with zest and colouring.

Using a large nozzled piping bag pipe onto lined trays then let sit for an hour to get a crust over them.

Bake in 130c oven for 20min (my oven bakes hot so I did about 16min).

Remove from oven and cool on tray.

Filling

bring the cream to the boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until it has all melted. Leave for a couple of minutes to cool slightly but still can be 'poured' onto biscuit.

Spoon mix onto one side of biscuit then press together with another biscuit.

I found I had heaps of filling left over and have put it in the fridge for another batch later.

(This recipe was from this years Christmas issue of family circle magazine)

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1.5c butter

2c caster sugar

4eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

5c bakers flour

2tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

How to

Cream butter and sugar together and beat in eggs and vanilla.

Stir in sifted flour, baking powder and salt.

Chill dough for at least one hour (this is important as it rolls better when cold)

Roll out to 1cm thickness and cut into shapes.

Place on lined tray and bake for about 5min at 200c.

Once cool you too can go berserk with the coloured icing!

Rich fruit cake with stout

Ingredients

3c mixed fruit

2.5c mixed dried fruit/nuts and whatever might take your fancy

200g butter

375ml of stout

4 eggs

2c bakers flour (i find this is best for baking and pasta making)

2tsp baking powder

3/4c brown sugar

1tsp mixed spice

.5c pecans or almonds for decoration

How to

Combine fruit, butter, sugar and stout in a saucepan and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool.
DO NOT try the mixture at this point as it is totally gross and you will wonder how the cake will turn out. Trust me the cake comes out absolutely divine!

Preheat oven to 130c (fan-forced)

Sir eggs and sifted dry ingredients into fruit mix, pour into 23cm round or square tin and bake for about 2.5hrs.

Cool over night in tin.

I used orchard icing that you roll out this year for the first time. I cut my square cake into quarters so I could give small individual cakes as gifts. I have come to the final conclusion that cake decorating is an art to respect LOL

(Recipe adapted from Women's Weekly easy baking book)

Things I know

2011-12-10T13:26:00.000+11:00

*I know that I like hanging out with the older ladies in the local art group. They are very rude LOL, funny and wise.
*I know I won't be serving up beetroot in jelly on Christmas day, despite being assured of it's popularity (possibly in the 50's!).
*I know that I am blessed to have two happy, healthy and loving kidlets.
*I know that I am tired way too much.
*I know I need to lose weight as I am a high risk for diabetes and heart conditions.
*I know I have had a year of more highs than lows this year :)

linking up to Things I know with Shae

Go and get bunted!!

2011-12-06T16:53:00.000+11:00

We have a cat.
We have a cat who eats tinsel.
Thus, we can't do tinsel decorations at Christmas!
Solution: bunting!

I have seen this around quite a bit lately in cutsie type house/baby/toy shops and a friend does paper ones quite a bit that I just love. As I am a ~~collector~~ hoarder of fabric (and yarn, felt, fleece, buttons.........) I decided to use up some Christmas fabric, I mean that is what you are meant to do with fabric right!

So, are you ready for a really craptacular tutorial??

You will need:
fabric (amount depends on how much you want to make)
cutting board
rotary cutter
sharp scissors (the good scissors!)
1inch wide bias binding
sewing machine
pinking shears (optional)

I used rotary cutters to cut all my fabric and scissors to trim after sewing pieces together.
My measurements were 10cm x 16cm x 16cm but you could make them any size you want of course.

After cutting out all the pieces I matched them up in pairs and pinned together. I found pinning like the diagram below held the points in place much better.

Then came the sewing. I gave a small seam allowance as I hadn't used pinking shears on mine and used a short straight stitch.

Once all the pieces are paired and sewn you need to trim so both sides are even with each other and all loose threads are gone. You then need to pin the bias binding in place. About three pins per triangle holds nicely and I used a wider bias binding as it was easier to keep in place. I did do a small one with narrow but it was more fiddly.

Sew along the inner edge of the binding with same coloured cotton, neaten the ends and cut of any loose threads and you are done!!

love is simple

2011-12-03T23:26:00.001+11:00

another year of learning

2011-11-27T21:17:00.002+11:00

Last week we had the lovely Sandra come visit us. Sandra is one of the home ed monitors for THEAC (Tas Home Ed Advisory Council). Part of the process of home education in Tasmania requires you to be registered and to be monitored. This occurs around 12 months and then every two years if you are doing ok. It isn't about whether you are a good or bad teacher but just to check all is going well. Here in Tasmania we are fortunate to have a council that is open and accepting of many styles of learning.

I felt mostly confident that we were doing fine but I think there is always that small niggly feeling that 'what if we haven't done enough'. What an understatement LOL

Because both my kids had been to regular school for a short time we really did have to take it slow and 'de-school' for a bit. Once they had come through that process though we evolved quite a bit and adopted a natural learning (unschooling for those in the USA) approach and haven't looked back really.

It wasn't until we had spent two hours with Sandra that I realised just how much we had done in the past 12 months! Here is a round up of our year of not doing much........

Some of this is with our home ed group in Launceston and some are just activities as a family or with friends.
I am pretty sure I have missed some things but my memory is shot. Whilst the kids both read quite fluently the eagerness to read comes and goes, same with writing. Nienna is very keen on writing stories and will fill book after book with short stories. Beren doesn't like hand writing but will write stuff on the computer and has an ongoing pokemon project. They both enjoy games on the computer/DS and Wii as well as playing lego together. Nienna also loves imaginative play with dolls, doll house and littlest pet-shop toys. They also love using audio books and watching dvds.

Live Performances
Joseph and his dreamcoat
Oliver
Beauty and the Beast
Peter Pan

Excursions
Historic Franklin House visit (Launceston)
Coal Creek historic mining village (East Gippsland, Vic)
Sand sculptures and workshop (Frankston, Vic)
Historic Entally House (Launceston)
Convict cemetery tour (Launceston)
Forest and sustainability day (Golden Valley, Tas)
Beaconsfield Gold mine tour
Nature world (Bicheno)
Westbury maze (Westbury)
Tutankhamen exhibit (Melbourne museum)
Chinese museum (Melbourne)
Screen World (Melbourne)
Graeme Base Exhibit (Melbourne)
Vic Arts Centre
Oatlands History Room
MONA (Hobart)
Launceston museum

Recreation
Taikwondo (weekly)
Trampolining (weekly)
Highland dancing (weekly)
Launceston aquatic centre visits
Launceston bike and road awareness centre
blueberry picking
Games in the park
Home ed 3 day camp
Treasure Island play centre
Drama workshop
Beaconsfield skate park
Trevallyn dam reserve, kite flying day
Royal park play day

Activities
Scottsdale Kids Craft group (Weekly)
drawing day
zentangle/doodling workshop
origami workshop
egg dying
felting
sewing
easter ornaments
season table
Beach combing
cooking
sewing
costume design for fancy dress parties
Pottery
Science show and tell day

Team building games and 'get to know you' activities
Quiz day
Ambulance visit and talk with paramedic
Show and tell day
kite making

Bravehearts child safety presentation
Painting
planning and planting veg garden
putting up rain and temp gauges
writing poems
lego play
reading
mini plays
creating sculptures from cardboard and boxes
creating miniature shop
Boardgames and more boardgames
dying wool and felt

how does your garden grow?

2011-11-26T21:02:00.002+11:00

Ours is going quite well. There wasn't a lot of space for a veggie garden here so I have utilised all the space I have and used pots for some things like tomatoes, spring onions and basil.

This is the main bed after mulching and getting ready to plant.

These two beds have strawberries that I trimmed and split up after last season.

Our strawberries are now flourishing and I am picking around 15 a day on average.

This bed has lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, tomatoes (self seeded) and mini cabbages. It did have corn but something ate it all.

The compost is not my responsibility so I stay out of it (although I did build it). I only hope it works and is doing what it is meant to do.

Spudatoes! Yum, nothing like home grown spuds and I am looking forward to these ones.

Do you have a veggie patch? We love it and the kids love harvesting and watching things grow.

synchronicity and other weird stuff

2011-11-24T18:18:00.000+11:00

It's funny, sometimes I just cruise along and am oblivious to 'things' happening around me. But at other times it is like I am on high alert and this week has been one of those weeks. I am a member on Ravelry, the knitting/yarn website but find I am not frequenting the forums like I used to. However the other day I poked my head in and checked out some of the threads on there, my 'ears pricked up' when I read a couple of posts by a fellow member. Things she said made me wonder if I knew her or at least her husband, so I sent a message to her. Turns out she is married to an old school friend of mine who I hadn't seen for years and we also have a mutual friend. Not to mention our mutual interest in yarn and crafts. I really hope to catch up with them sometime as they also live in the north of Tassie.

The next out of the blue thing was when a fellow home ed mum asked if I was the Kelli who knew a mutual friend. I was and it turned out that mamaS had been writing to mamaB for years.
Talk about small worlds huh!

This kind of thing blows me away. I have believed for a long time that we are all drawn together and that our lives are not made up of coincidences. I think we meet people along the way for a specific reason, be it small or large. These people may pass through briefly or stay for the duration. I take heart in the fact that I am surrounded by people who are meant to be in my life and I theirs.

This was highlighted many years ago when I used to attend a meditation circle in Hobart. This circle was made up of like minded women ranging in age from me (early 30's) to a lady in her late 70's. There were about 10 of us who met weekly. On more than one occasion we would all have the same vision during our meditations and one of the women suggested this was a shared past life. The more I talked with these women and studied literature on the subject the more I felt this was true. It also led me to believe that we travel through our various lives with the same people. These people play different roles each lifetime but they are all there. I like to think that 'deja vu' , that feeling of having met someone before is an example of this. That sense of feeling instantly comforted by someone or a group of people.

That sense of belonging happened to me with a group of women in Melbourne. We came together as a small group who liked to knit, but this group fast become a strongly bonded group of friends. We all commented on how bizarre it was that we be so close and comfortable with each other instantly.

I also have a circle of friends in the cyber world. We have met through various parenting forums and have our own closed forum where we talk, lament, rejoice etc. We are but a few yet we each seem reluctant to let go of each other. I was chatting with one of the other mums last night about what I have written and she wondered if it was because we have known each other before, therefore we are attracted to each other and just there for each other in the background. We all come from various places in Australia so cannot all be there on a physical level but there is a strong bond amongst us regardless of our isolation.

What do you think? Do you have a bond with others that is different, feel connected for no real reason?

source: pastlives

natureworld

2011-11-15T17:37:00.000+11:00

We spent the weekend in Bicheno staying with my folks. My dad shouted us a visit to natureworld and as we haven't been for a while we decided to take him up on his offer.
Natureworld has recently changed ownership and I must say it has been a positive step. I think the old owners had become a bit jaded and lost interest to the detriment of the park and the new owners are showing signs of reviving the old spark! (Although, their website is very out of date and needs some tlc.)

My mum came with us and we all thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent there. Because of weather we didn't go until late in the day so we didn't get to see all the attractions. We could have taken up the offer of a visitor pass enabling us to return the next day but we had plans and couldn't make it.

However, what we did see was entertaining enough. We all got to have pats of the Tasmanian Devils and spend time with their carer while he fed them. Did you know they can open their jaws to a massive 90 degrees!! This helps them have the power to much through bone to get to the marrow. They are very cuddly creatures having been partially hand reared and they are soooo soft!

They have a fabulous interpretation centre for the devils too. This is necessary as an unfortunate facial tumour is spreading rapidly among the wild devil population and diminishing their numbers. They seem to think that wild devils will become extinct and the only ones left will be those bred in captivity. The park has been part of a long term project that involves research and preservation plus breeding programs to protect the species. It would be such a sad loss if they died out because of this disease.

We were honoured to witness a peacock dance, designed to woo a local peahen. It seemed we were much more impressed than her as she wandered off!

The kids loved feeding the animals in the park, the lambs and pony especially. I am sure they have more animals than the last time I visited, particularly in the bird enclosure. There were so many beautiful coloured birds to see.

All in all it was a great visit!

Getting Married

2011-11-10T22:32:00.000+11:00

No, not me!

My good friend Charlotte is marrying her fella, Neil tomorrow. I wish I could be there and even though I won't be there physically I have followed the preparations from a distance and my heart will be there with everyone tomorrow.

Charlotte, you deserve every happiness and I hope this will be it for you. I love you xxxx

This song is for the two of you....

another post about autism

2011-10-23T13:45:00.000+11:00

Like depression, it seems as though everyone I know is touched by autism in some way. Either they have children, know children, teach children or are married to someone with autism.
The similarities between depression and autism don't end there though. Here are some things they have in common:
*also known as labels
*often used as excuses
*often accused of not existing
*neither need a diagnosis to be known

I have been giving this whole 'label' thing a lot of thought lately, in fact I have been hearing and thinking about the whole autism thing lately. People often say they won't get a diagnosis because they don't want to label a child. I think this is bullshit personally! I used to agree but I guess now I have gone and labelled myself (depressed and anxious) and my son (aspy, ASD, autistic) I tend to think that it is less about putting a tag on someone and more about being proactive in parenting/self care.
I also think that people tend to think a diagnosis and label are exclusive. I didn't need an official diagnosis to know that Beren had autism, I was able to acknowledge that well before a diagnosis came along and having that diagnosis didn't change him, his label still said BEREN - handle with care!

What did a diagnosis mean to me? Well, it meant access to services that I couldn't otherwise afford to access. Because I had taken my kids out of the education system I couldn't access ANY services such as psychologist, occupational or speech pathologist through the education system (don't get me started on discrimination!). I needed to be able to access affordable/free services and to be able to speak to people who would know how to address issues I had with behaviour management and appropriate response on my part.

I didn't need to know if there was something wrong with Beren. There is nothing wrong with Beren as such, he is a healthy, happy, intelligent and handsome nine year old boy. Nothing actually changed dramatically with a diagnosis for him really.
However, for me it did. I could speak with child psychologists about some of Beren's behaviours and find out how to 'manage' them. Even though it was Beren who saw Dr M on a weekly basis I could give her ideas of what I felt needed to be addressed and she could discuss with him or play games and role play.

It is also difficult to know when certain behaviour is lack of social awareness or just downright playing dirty! I for one do not believe that aspy boy (Beren) is totally innocent of deliberate bad behaviour and I don't give into the 'oh it's because he has autism' train of thought!

I am fortunate that Beren is high functioning, this means that with good direction, role modelling and boundaries he will lead a perfectly 'normal' life. (I know, I used the N word!) Funny enough, most of these things are used with both my kids anyway, it is just that sometimes Beren needs reminding more often and I have used visuals more than I probably would have if things had been different. My parenting doesn't change with each child, I struggle as a parent enough without having to separate and alter my thoughts for each child!

Beren has come a loooooong way from multiple daily meltdowns, violence, cruelty and total lack of communication that occurred until he was around five. These were sheer hell. I had no idea how to deal with them,I knew what was wrong but fell into the 'label' trap and chose not to acknowledge it. IF ONLY I HAD DONE SOMETHING EARLIER! I could have perhaps avoided so much anxiety and stress for both of us by learning how to manage. But, I didn't and we muddled along and we can't turn back the clock. I think this is why I am now a strong advocate of getting help early.

Back then, I would avoid situations that could bring on a melt down. I would never leave him alone with another child because I knew he would deliberately hurt that child just so he could watch the reaction. I spoke for him because he didn't speak, I gave in to all his whims and fancies to just keep him happy. During this time his father and I separated and that just added fuel to the fire. I cringe when I think back at how things were dealt with but I will not tear myself apart over it, what is done is done and we can only move forward.

Being the only parent who really acknowledges an issue and deals with it has been difficult but not impossible. I try to keep things consistent and if I feel something is really important then I encourage their dad to also practice/enforce what is happening.

APPROPRIATE

This word is probably one of the most often used words in our house LOL I am no saint as I am sure you are aware. I use the words don't, stop, no (and swear) but I try to use the positive as much as I can. I have taught my kids that there is appropriate and inappropriate ways to do stuff. Rather than fill them with heaps of words I find the word 'appropriate' works for many scenarios and they catch on very quickly as to just what is appropriate or not.

We also have visual reminders around the house, such as 'STOP THINK CHOOSE' signs.

Hand signals are used when I am speaking to someone on the phone or in person, such as STOP- palm facing child, WAIT-index finger raised, NO-index finger side to side. Not to forget the fact that I do great 'stink eye!' LOL

I read a blog post sent to me yesterday and it was written by a mom of a child with autism. She was writing about how people often judge behaviour as bad parenting or naughty kids etc. I didn't like the post as it seemed she was saying that all that happened could be blamed on the diagnosis. This is wrong in my opinion! Just because a child has autism doesn't excuse their behaviour. Before you start throwing things at me I obviously, am speaking from my experience only and a child with severe high needs would be a different kettle of fish! For me, it just didn't sit right.

One day I was driving and the kids were in the back seat bickering. Beren turned and hit Nienna and when I pulled him up on it his response was, " I didn't mean it, it is just because of the autism!" BULLSHIT BOYO! I promptly pulled over, stopped the car and turned around and said "I never, ever want to hear you say that again. It is not an excuse for inappropriate behaviour! You know that violent behaviour is wrong and unacceptable!" I have to say he has never used that again! LOL

So, how do I deal with issues that arise?

Beren is very tactile and finds head scratches and back rubs soothing. If I see him getting tetchy and impatient I will suggest we go lay down for a cuddle. Wrapping a tight blanket around an upset child works for many too.
Noise and crowds bother him, I don't force him to go to markets etc as I know he will be miserable and make everyone else suffer. We do smaller crowds and will continue to work our way up. Also I discuss that there will be music/crowds/noise before hand.
Oral fixation, he loves the feel and taste of food. Working on recognising that he is full and also that he doesn't have to finish everything or by the same note eat ALL things at once.
Communication, teaching him to respond when spoken to and not just ignore and walk away. Prompting him to initiate conversations and to ask for things he needs instead of doing it for him.
Quiet time, teaching him to acknowledge when he is 'peopled out' and to find something else to do away from others.
Using social scene card games and board games to learn social behaviour.
Not REACTING as this just inflames a situation. Using a low, calm and slow voice as well as hand signals to indicate that he needs to slow down, breathe and stop yelling before anything can be addressed.
Removing myself from the room if I can't stay calm, taking a breather then returning.
Explaining how an action makes someone feel. ie When xxx happens or you do xxx it makes me feel............. this is not a guilt trip by any means, it is simply educating because empathy is not high on his list of priorities.
Echolalia - don't sweat the small stuff! Although, when Beren got to the triple figures of telling me he loved me and expecting a response daily I must admit I was getting frayed. I then explained that it doesn't mean as much if it is just being said all the time and perhaps he could tell himself quietly that he loves me. I also discovered that he would say it when he forgot what he was going to say, I again said it was ok to say he forgot.
Stimming - oh this shits me big time. flapping, jumping, jiggling about. Drives me nuts and sometimes I will ask him to stop or I will get him to go ride his scooter, jump on tramp or tell him to go do it in another room. other times it just takes a hug to stop it.

I am sure there are other things I just can't think of right now but you get the drift. It ain't all roses but I believe that by reinforcing 'appropriate' behaviour and teaching what is expected does make the journey get easier. Most aspy kids like to please and Beren is no exception. If he knows something he has done has made me happy then he will do it more and more. He likes praise and being acknowledged for good actions so he is often easy to work with.

I am blessed with the two kids I have. I wouldn't change a thing as they are who they are. Admittedly I have it easy as Beren isn't severely affected by autism and if I were honest, Nienna is probably low on the spectrum too. But hey, we are all on it somewhere and I like to think the spectrum is just another rainbow.

and they all lived happily ever after

2011-10-20T21:53:00.000+11:00

such a great day today.
Cool thunderstorm in the early morning (8.30am :P)

stunning stormy sky

A stunningly warm and sunny day.
No stresses.
Had a lovely walk and even got to have a nice chat with the old bloke down the street who was walking home at the same time as me.
Decided I am living in Tasmania's answer to Florida
sewing day.

market goodies

(Fairy queen costume for dress up party on Sat)

BBQ day.
Girlie day.

Lazy day.

creating day.

hospital computer. Has oxygen, defib, heart monitors, fan, alarm and much more apparently!

Beren being resuscitated after a heart attack

a bit of spice in my life

2011-10-11T17:02:00.000+11:00

I have given up on ever finding the spice jars I like. They used to sell them in 'safeway' as two packs and I would buy a pack every so often and then just before I had enough they stopped selling them!! How rude!! they could have asked if I had enough first surely!!

So then I found some teensy preserving jar type one at a discount store and I bought four thinking that I could always go back.........*bzzzzzzzzzzzzz* no, that was obviously too difficult for them to get their head around and they stopped stocking them!!

Alas, I searched high and low, online and offline to no avail. but last week I found a set of spice jars on a lazy susan type plastic holder going super cheap at Harris Scarfe (a shop that doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up, if it lasts long enough LOL) and raced into ~~the big smoke~~ Launceston and bought a set. I ditched the holder and kept the jars. They are not my ideal but better than nothing.

This sorting and relabelling got me wondering as to what sort of herb and spices everyone else keeps and how/where you keep them.
Currently I have:
hot paprika
onion salt
turmeric
ground ginger
basic curry powder
chilli flakes
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
garlic flakes
chinese five spice
italian mixed herbs
basil
oregano
bay leaves
cumin seeds
ground cumin
ground coriander
garam-marsala
cardamom pods
mustard seeds
whole cloves
whole nutmeg
ground nutmeg
cinnamon sticks
ground cinnamon
ground allspice
mixed spice
Himalayan rock salt
black pepper corns

So what sort do you have and what do you do with them??

bottom shelf are the original jars, middle shelf are my latest soon to be out of stock jars and the top are the cute little ones.

A yummy way to use some spice in your life!

Sunday was a particularly wet and cold day here so I decided a warm and comforting dessert was in order. I have loads of apples as I have been buying them by the box for juicing so I decided on baked apples.

I washed four apples and cored them almost all the way through. I think you could also half them and scoop the seeds out and then cover with the sugar mix just as well.

In a small bowl I combined:

a shake of nutmeg and cinnamon ground

about 1/2c of brown sugar

1/4c shredded coconut

1/4c flaked almonds

1/4c goji berries

I then filled the apples with this mix, pressing it in really well then I topped each with a dollop of butter.

I put them in a baking dish and added about an inch of boiling water then put a lid on.

You can use foil if you have it.

I cooked in a pre-heated 160c (fan forced) oven for about 15 minutes then took the lid off and cooked a further 15-20minutes. Just check the apple is soft but not mushy with a skewer.

Spoon some of the water mix over the top and then serve with your fave accompaniment.

We had vanilla bean ice-cream with ours and they were scrumpelish!

I made my filling up from what I had in the pantry but you could experiment with all sorts of mixes and I used goji berries because I had no sultanas and they were lovely.

ps. I had left over mix that I have stored in an airtight container and will use for muffins or something down the track.

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar.......

2011-09-27T21:32:00.000+10:00

I didn't steal the cookies but I did eat ~~a teensy tiny bit~~ a lot of cookie dough! And so I should, being that I am a responsible parent and 1) don't want my kids poisoned, 2) childhood obesity and all that....

I also made a shit load of biscuits/cookies using the easy peasy 'too many biscuits' that I got from Kate who says stuff and she got it from Kate who doesn't grow pickles!

The recipe goes something like this:

Too Many Biscuits (bit silly name cos how many are too many??)
- 500gms butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tin condensed milk
- 5 cups self raising flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. ( have a bit of an uneven heat and i suspect it cooks hotter than it says so I put mine on high fan at 160c)

Cream the butter and sugar until light.

Beat in condensed milk (unlike Kate I didn't eat ~~any~~ much)
Mix in flour then divide and add any additional items you like. You can go to town at this part. I have used lots of different stuff but today I did mini m&m's and choc buds and some cocoa.

Roll into teaspoonfullish sized balls and bake for ten minutes or until starting to turn golden. If cooking from frozen add another couple of minutes cooking time. I also squish them down a little bit.

From this mix I got around 50 biscuits and I froze two 'tubes' of dough for another day.

Clowning around

2011-09-26T22:25:00.000+10:00

Yesterday we went to a clown/crazy hair birthday party for the lovely Miss Rose who was turning ten. I think I fluked it in the costume department this time. At the op-shop we found the blue feather boa and the American Indian girl dress and a perfect doona cover with stars and flowers on it. We bought the wigs at chickenfeed (discount store) and some pompoms to decorate with. I made Beren's clown pants from the doona cover and some coat-hanger wire threaded thru the waist to make them stick out like clown pants do. They were a hit! The party goers all looked awesome with everyone getting in on the fun and dressing up. The dads of the day also got in on it with host transforming himself as a ring master complete with tuxedo and Mr M made a very colourful DJ.

Sunday in my city

Are you a non conformist??

2011-09-23T20:07:00.001+10:00

The other day I had a really interesting conversation with a friend about heaps of great stuff but one topic that stuck in my head was about parents who choose home education for their kids. I was pondering over the fact that we must all have something in common, even if it is a minute thing. My Friend, Mrs J, started saying how she always questioned everything and was a bit of a rebel and started listing off experiences she had had over the years. She could have been describing me LOL

I have always argued for as long as I can remember. In early childhood with my folks, then with teachers and peers. I was known as 'that child with the chip on her shoulder'. I remember really resenting that description but now I figure if that means I won't be a sheep and aimlessly follow, or that I am inquisitive and thirsty for knowledge I take it as a compliment!

Now, I know in my circle of home ed families that some may follow the same path but for religious beliefs or because of illness or learning difficulties, some because their children have an ASD diagnosis and respond better to being at home. But I believe that what Mrs J said still stands. Because we do question things and dare I say it, not conform we are courageous enough to seek an alternative to suit our needs. We don't cower to the majority who say our children need to be taught at a school, need to learn to 'fit in', need to learn to conform. Instead we take the long way around.

have a great weekend y'all.

and for those who didn't catch the song I posted here, these are the lyrics!

Source: http://www.sing365.com
The Long Way Around ------Dixie Chicks

My friends from high school
Married their high school boyfriends
Moved into houses
In the same ZIP codes where their parents lived

But I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow

I hit the highway
In a pink RV with stars on the ceiling
Lived like a gypsy
Six strong hands on the steering wheel

I've been a long time gone now
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
But I've always found my way somehow

By takin' the long way
Takin' the long way around
Takin' the long way
Takin' the long way around

I met the queen of whatever
Drank with the Irish and smoked with the hippies
Moved with the shakers
Wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to

No I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow

It's been two long years now
Since the top of the world came crashing down
And I'm gettin' it back on the road now

But I'm takin' the long way
Takin' the long way around
I'm takin' the long way
Takin' the long way around

Oh, I just take my time I won't lay down
And take the long way 'round

Well, I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I hurt myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself

But I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow

Well I never seem to do it like anybody else
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
If you ever want to find me I can still be found

Takin' the long way
Takin' the long way around
Takin' the long way
Takin' the long way around

to tide you over...

2011-09-21T22:08:00.001+10:00

I have a post brewing and this song seems to be quite apt for what I am thinking about lately :)

i am so very lucky

2011-09-16T13:32:00.001+10:00

to have such wonderful kids. I was watching a child in a shop throw the biggest wobbly the other and not coping with being told he couldn't do something. I know that I don't know the background of the family etc but I witnessed the event from start to finish and realised just how lucky I am.

My kids rarely throw wobblies, Beren does have the odd melt down but a plain wobbly rarely happens.

We get tears from petty arguments and tears from the odd strike against each other but on a whole they are the best of playmates and travel on the same wavelength most of the time.

We talk about appropriate behaviour a lot and we have 'supermarket rules'. From when they were little I explained what behaviour was appropriate in the supermarket (we all know how horrendous a trip to the shops with little ones can be) and what I expected. These soon became known as supermarket rules and even now if we are somewhere that the same behaviour is expected I will let them know that supermarket rules apply and they know what I mean and rarely do they not act in the manner required.

They are kind to others and mostly to each other, they both have a pretty warped sense of humour which certainly makes life in this family much easier!

They love discussions and are open to new ideas and theories. Their knowledge astounds me at times and I wonder how they get so smart.

They are unique and they tend to not worry what others will think of them. Nienna will happily wear three skirts and a pair of gumboots as an outfit and wear it proudly. Beren, still loves to be a nudey bum!

They love me dearly and let me know this continually through the day and I love them back fiercely.

Last night they set a beautiful candle lit table for dinner

This morning Nienna presented me with this beautiful picture, compete with card attached.

This says: To mum, I love you. Thank you for making us and for providing food for us. We love you....

Isn't he handsome!

The three of us, oh that is Sheridan by the way!

Putting on our best duck face poses!

Joining it on things I know

what value is a life?

2011-09-13T23:04:00.000+10:00

This week has been a week of remembrance and somewhat sadness. Yes, just when you thought all the 9/11 blog posts had been done and it was safe to log into your reader!

I do remember where I was when I first heard about the planes crashing into the world trade centre. I was driving home from an evening shift at my work, Qantas. I caught the tail end of some news but wasn't sure what it was about so when I got home I turned the tv on to find out, and oh boy did I find out. It was horrendous of course and I sat glued for some time in shock like most people I know. Yet the worse was to come when I returned to work next day. Taking calls from families desperate to get to their family in America or vice versa. Calls from people who had family in the buildings, people calling screaming and sobbing for flights that we couldn't provide. It truly was heartbreaking and emotional torture, yet I know that I felt nothing compared to those involved on the day or as it would seem ten years on.

This week the world pays it's respects to those 2974 people who lost their lives on that day in September. The disbelief and the anger flows as it did ten years ago and I understand that totally.
I feel anger at such a violent and unnecessary act.
I feel anger at the unnecessary loss of innocent lives.

But I feel more anger when I think about the inequality in death. People jump up and down about inequality and rights etc etc yet seem to think this should stop when the breath stops.

What value do we put on a life?

Is one worth more than another?

What about in death?

Does it matter how, when or where one dies?

Do the countless and faceless rescuers from 9/11 have the same value as the 2974 victims? We don't hear of them and their suffering from subsequent illnesses and deaths related to being in the smoke and concrete dust. The city of New York do not pay any compensation or medical bills for these men and women. Will they have a memorial or a state service?

After 9/11 America invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Allied troops were also deployed to these countries. Sadly many soldiers have lost their lives since 9/11. According to icasualties 4792 soldiers of the coalition forces have lost their lives in Irag since 2003 and 2712 in Afghanistan since 2001. I don't know about other countries but I know that here in Australia when a soldier who has been deployed is killed it makes prime time news and front page of the papers. Rightly so too, don't get me wrong, loss of life through war is so wrong and such a waste, particularly a war that I don't believe should be occurring or that we should be involved in. These lives are commemorated in their death and remembered, they are all victims of 9/11.

Since 9/11 there have been at least 1035587 civilian Iraqi and Afghan lives lost that are not widely commemorated, remembered, revered or documented. These are also lives lost as a result of 9/11, either at the hand of coalition forces, al qaeda, taliban or suicide bombers. Regardless of who is responsible these innocents are still victims that are largely ignored and overlooked when a value is being placed on life.

I have been thinking about this a lot this week.

Did you know there were Queensland floods, Japanese tsunamis, earthquakes of New Zealand, Australia and Japan? You would have had to have been living in a bubble not to know this of course! we raised money, offered assistance and saw it on the news daily. The loss of life minimal in comparison to other disasters but the attention and value obviously high.

Did you know there have been floods in Pakistan recently? Yes, in August floods have left 200 known dead and 1million injured. Unicef reports that 25 mil children and 50mil people have been affected. No huge news reports, no remembrance days for these victims.

Did you know that since 2002 Iran have had 10 major earthquakes with no less than 31000 fatalities. No huge news reports, no remembrance days for these victims.

There was a landslide in Sth Korea killing 32 people.

There are 300 dead in storms in Alabama, USA

Last year 112 were killed and 500 missing after an earthquake in Sumatra.

In last years floods in Pakistan 1100 people were killed.

I could go on but I won't. Needless to say, 1000's of people die around the world daily but unless they are of great importance to Australia or USA we do not acknowledge these victims. They may get a brief story in the paper or on the news but they are not given the same value as others.

A life is a life!

We are all born of woman, we grow, we weep, we sleep, we shit and we die. No more and no less than anyone else so why is one life valued more than another?

Please, remember those who died on 9/11 if you must but put it into perspective and remember that those 2974 who died that day are but a few..........

I am blessed

2011-09-08T13:59:00.000+10:00

Each to their own, or not??

2011-09-06T16:09:00.000+10:00

At the moment I am feeling physically ill. I want to vomit profusely! Every inch of my body is clenched and stressed beyond belief and my heart aches. I am not sick but I am sickened.

I am sickened by the beliefs some people hold. Mostly I have the attitude of 'each to their own'. If you want to bottle feed, vax, use disposable nappies etc then go for it. I choose not to and I don't believe it is the best practice but hey!.....

However, when your beliefs could (and usually do) contribute to hysteria, fear, pain or suffering I have to draw the line. And, yes this does happen. Particular when the subject is asylum seekers and refugees. There is nothing better to catch a red neck with than the dangling hook of a refugee discussion! This applies to those in the upper echelons of government through to the ordinary Joe Blow down the street.
For now I am concentrating on Mr and Mrs J Blow, who unfortunately frequent social media such as facebook. It often intrigues me that someone with such minimal social skills, intelligence and logic can even master the internet but they do. They also spread their xenaphobic and hateful, small minded attitudes via this medium. It is not uncommon to see groups set up such as the ever so eloquent "fuck off we're full" and it's many variations or profile updates such as:

"Interesting.... If you cross the North Korean Border illegally, you get 12 years hard labor. If you cross the Afghanistan border illegally, you get shot. Two Americans just got eight years for crossing the Iranian border. If you cross the AUSTRALIAN border illegally you get get a job, a drivers license, food stamps, a place too live, health care, housing & child benefits, education, & a free business for 7 yrs. No wonder we are a country in debt. Re-post if you agree".

The above was posted today on someone's profile. This person was on my friend list. Probably only because we have known each other since childhood and our mothers are best of friends. That would really be the only connection we have as we eventually grew apart and pursued completely different lives. The thing that disturbs me the most is that it appears to have been copied off my brother's profile, I don't know for sure as I don't have him on my facebook friend list (for various reasons). That people can think this way is sickening enough but so close to home makes me ashamed to know these people and yes, to be related to someone who can think this way.

I commented on the post, knowing I would cop a fair amount of flack. But the interesting thing was that when I asked
"and if you are being persecuted and need to leave Australia and go to another country to save your family and only option is to arrive as many do here......what would you do??"

No-one could answer my question. There was plenty of abusing me and calling me small minded, and reminding me how kind and wonderful and caring the original poster is though. I don't dispute that she would give the shirt of her back or her last $5. I don't disagree that we should be looking after our homeless, our children, our elderly.

But why is it so hard to extend our hand to others in need. Others who are risking their lives coming here to save their families from prosecution, death, torture. They don't make this decision lightly, they are desperate and they are at the mercy of criminals such as the people smugglers. We could solve the issue of the smugglers by just letting them come here without having to further risk their lives on barely sea-worthy boats. We could cut out the middle man!

But I digress, my heart breaks that people feel the need to spread this red neck crap and perpetuate the myth that we are somehow missing out if we invite 'them' in. That our tax dollars will be wasted or jobs taken. This is bullshit and if people bothered to do their research they would know this. However, it is much easier to hate, blame, persercute than to admit fear at change. At the end of the day we were all immigrants at some stage in our ancestry...

Needless to say, I have culled my friend list and perhaps if you are on it and disagree with me

you can save me the trouble next time and just remove yourself :)

image

dancing

2011-08-30T16:25:00.000+10:00

White caps dance the Cossack steps

side stepping

weaving

angry shuffles on their salty stage

Heads bob in unison

spouting their frothy innards

painting murals on the gritty shore

Leaving memories of a silent dance

Sunday in my City - family

2011-08-28T19:19:00.000+10:00

I went to Oatlands this weekend with my mum. As some of you know I am hooked on genealogy and have been tracing my ancestry. Lately I have been concentrating on my mum's father's side. The ELLEN family.

As such, the first of the family to touch the shores of Australia was Charles Ellen who settled in Oatlands, Tasmania.

We not only spent the weekend in Oatlands BUT we also stayed in a cottage that was BUILT BY HIM!!!!

I was beside myself with nostalgic emotions.

This is Callington Mill, a recently restored mill that is working.

Jenny Wren cottage. This house was originally a four room design and owned by a Mr George Aitchison. It was built by my great, great, great grandfather and he also rented it for some time.

joining in on Sundays in my city

silent learning

2011-08-16T12:06:00.000+10:00

I haven't written a post about home ed for some time. I guess we get caught up in life and are so busy some weeks that blogging falls to the bottom of the 'to do' list.

Yesterday Nienna said something about not working that prompted me to share what exactly we have been up to. Although, to be honest she (and Beren) often mention to others how they love home school because they don't do anything other than play! Of course, this is usually met with a disapproving look from the other person, who I am sure is going to race home and look up the number for the ed department to report our truancy LOL

Over the last couple of months I think our home schooling has changed dramatically. Prior to this we would probably have been described as fairly eclectic in our approach. By this I mean we did some structured 'lessons' such as diary writing, workbooks or projects plus some child led activities, usually play based. Recently though I have tended to 'let go' and see where the kids lead us. This has been hard (especially for a control freak like myself) as there is always that small worry that you are doing wrong by your child. The old saying "give them an inch and they will take a mile" also comes to mind. If I let them choose what to do (or not do) will they run with it and go feral??

So, yesterday morning as I lay in bed the kids were downstairs playing poker and go fish with their dad. This seems to be a morning ritual now with Nienna keeping a written record of wins and losses (and I have to say I don't mind that early morning doze!). A bit later we were all up and ready for the day, breakfast was done and our day proceeded something like this:

Morning:
Kelli-sewing, tidying, fixing ironing board
Beren- made birthday card for friend, played with lego
Nienna- relocated barbies, doll house and littlest pet shops to a cubby behind sofa corner

Afternoon:
Kelli- sewing, reading, housework, gave lesson in DSLR use
Beren- started making lego stop motion film
Nienna- stop motion film with barbies and helped Beren
Nienna/Kelli- shared a bath and chatted about the house and Bridport in general.
Discussion and planning what is to happen this week for set activities and any appointments.

Evening:
Kelli- dinner preparation
Beren- helped with dinner for a while, played on computer
Nienna- tidied up and set table, watched an episode of smurfs
Both kids went to first session of Taekwondo with their dad
Story time and day reflection with kids.

Last night after they went to bed I reflected on the day and I realised that we had achieved natural learning in a very organic way. Now, this is all well and good and most home schoolers will nod and smile. However, there will be the naysayer who shake their head and wonder just what my children are learning.
Again, using yesterday as an example here is what was covered:

English - Reading, Writing, Listening & Speaking (card games, card making, story time)

Mathematics - Number, Measurement, counting (film making, lego and card games)

Science - Earth & Space, Energy, Living Things, Investigating, Chemistry, Physics, Biology (cooking, lego, computer game)

Social Sciences - History, Geography, Commerce, Cultures, Indigenous Studies, Environmental Studies (chatting, cooking)

The Arts - Dance, Drama, Media, Music, Visual Arts (film making, barbie play)

Health & Physical Education - Health, Drug Education, Physical Education, Sport (taekwondo)

Languages - Core languages are Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese (explored where taekwondo came from and language it is from etc)

Technology - computer use and camera use

I have tended to think both Beren and Nienna learn best through auditory methods but recently I have seen them embrace other methods and left to their own devises I tend to think they are exhibiting multiple intelligence more and more. Learning methods are explained well at this site.

The above examples are pretty much how our days flow. On the days they are with their dad, they go for long walks that encompass the history trail in Bridport and lots of opportunity for discussions and exercise. They are both enthusiastic about tennis atm as we have a free court nearby. We walk to the local library once or twice a week and sit and read and talk. Once a week we meet with other home schoolers in Launceston and I have found out there is a group at Scottsdale starting up too! Nienna does highland dancing and Beren does trampolining once a week and both are keen to start surf life saving here in the summer.

Nienna has always had a natural curiosity and motivation to 'do' where as Beren has been a bit slower in developing these skills. However, since getting lego he has really started to follow Nienna and has been motivated to do things such as make stop motion films, research lego, budget and manage money to buy more lego.

It is ironic that for my children to REALLY learn I had to stop TEACHING them :)

You know you're in the country when...

2011-08-11T18:40:00.000+10:00

you see long empty roads

Road side school drop off

Old wooden fences

Roadside sales, complete with bad punctuation and novelty letter box

Lines of bales

Boggy roads

Woolly road blocks

Working dogs

best friends

Multiple shades of blue

Lambs

my garden

2011-08-05T17:03:00.000+10:00

This is the mini orchard, there are five trees. One is apple and one is peach but the others are unlabelled so it will be a surprise.

ah, my girl. a really bad photo but I wanted to take the opportunity while it arose

The side garden, there are strawberries at the top section and I will put lettuce, tomatoes and corn in here too.

More strawberries, plus the ones in the white boxes I bought from our last place

trellis in the background has passion fruit vine around it, there is a lemon tree in the foreground and I am not sure what the tree in between is.

The front side garden as shown by Nienna

The succulent garden, I like this and will put more in over time. I love succulents and collect them.

where else would you expect a pea plant other than along side a bulb under a yukka plant LOL

Herbs, with a good display of rosemary climbing the wall

and the piece de resistance! I know, you all want one and are incredibly jealous! A wishing well!

and we have landed!

2011-07-31T15:53:00.000+10:00

As some will know we moved house this past week. It was a spur of the moment decision and the universe was smiling down on us:)

I had been throwing the idea around for at least six months but hadn't really had a serious attempt at finding anything, and well I guess the timing just hadn't been right. After a couple of challenging months that saw my children's father having to move out of his house due to criminals and threats to him and our children we saw this place and decided to apply for it. The story for the last few months is a sad and long winded one that isn't mind to tell really but needless to say, even ex-husbands don't deserve the treatment mine has suffered recently.

Thus, we found a place at Bridport that has a huge three bedroom house upstairs with double garage, large workshop/storage area and 2 bedroom flat downstairs. It is perfect for our situation and the kids get to see their dad again in his own place. We all have separate entrances and there is no path crossing so we all stay happy. Even better, the rent I pay is only $200 per week and he pays $100pw. This is a super bargain and we would be paying twice as much if we were in Launceston.

Bonus is that our little town has all our basic needs, Scottsdale is only 15min away and has larger supermarket, OP SHOPS! and more and to get to Launceston is on ly 50min.

So, here is a bit of a tour now that I have done the majority of the unpacking....

Our view, I cannot get tired of this and the changing shades, it is idealic. Check out the huge sand dunes on the other side of Anderson's Bay!

My pantry, not huge by walk in standards but OH GEE!! the space is terrific. It is the first place I have been in that has TOO much space LOL

The is the kitchen. The little cubby hole is for a microwave I suspect but it doesn't have enough space for air to circulate IMO and the power cord had to run down the front of the wall which looked messy. Much prefer fridge and microwave in pantry and my cookbooks fit neatly in the hole.

The other side of the kitchen. Only thing missing is a dishwasher! :(

Nienna's bedroom, only time you will see it this neat! She is with her dad this weekend!

Beren's room is always need and everything has to be in the right spot - go aspy boy!!

I love my room! I need a nice comfy chair though as it is a bit bare!

From the window, the door near the dresser is to the WALK IN ROBE!! Yes, more storage space!

The lounge room with the ugliest bar in the state! As it is bolted down and can't be moved I have made it the computer desk for the kidlets and hide all the home ed stuff behind it. Above is behind the bar.

The dining room is largish too and my poor little table looks a bit odd. I think I need a wooden square table and will look at getting one eventually. I also set the desk up there for art work etc and my sewing table.

The lounge room looking from the dining room. In the background is the stair well down to the garage. Ignore the shabbing rug on the couch, it covers all the sun faded damage. Need a new lounge suite too!

And looking out the sliding doors from where I am sitting in the dining room is the balcony/verandah/deck. There are double glass doors opening onto the deck from the lounge room too so we can have indoor/outdoor living in summer. We have already had a few lunches and breakfasts out there and I can tell it will be a fave spot! The kids like using it as a stage.

So, this is our new home. Next time I will do a tour of the outside gardens and mini orchard! stay tuned...

Sourdough love

2011-06-30T20:31:00.000+10:00

First you need a starter. Mine was a donation from a lovely friend. To this starter I added 100gr of warm water and 100gr of rye flour to feed the wee beast.

Once it had digested and was nicely bubbled I turned most of it out into a china bowl and added 3.5cups of warm water and the same amount of flour. I used a mix of rye and spelt flour this time. I mixed it and let it sit in a warm spot for about 12hrs but covered with a cloth. Be sure to use glass or china and not metal when playing with this.

Once my mix had proven a bit I added more rye flour to make it a thick but sticky mix. I put it into a bread tin and covered it with a cloth and let it prove overnight.

To bake I heated the oven as hot as it can go and cooked it at this temp (260c) for 10minutes. I then reduced the heat to 190c and backed for a further 50min.

The taste was perfect, just the right amount of sourness and because I used rye and spelt it was a nice flavour combination. I think I will make a thicker dough next time and cook on the higher heat for longer and see how that affects the texture as it was still a tiny bit sticky inside.

Overall I give it a 5/10 and figure it turned out pretty good for a first time loaf!

When an overnighter takes three!

2011-06-26T19:56:00.000+10:00

We went to Melbourne on Tuesday for the night with our friends Mrs P, Mr J and the divine Ms M! As it turned out the ash clouds weren't smiling down on us and we ended up with two extra nights. This was great as it meant more time to take the kids around the city and show them places they hadn't been too (despite having spent most of the life so far living in Melbourne). However, the downside was that it meant I was several hundred dollars over budget.

On arrival we caught the skybus into the city and then hotfooted it to Gopals for some of their scrummy food. This is the bestest! Great food and soooooo cheap!

Our initial plan was to see the Tutankhamen exhibit at the Melbourne Museum. We had been studying ancient Egypt at the start of the year and thought this would complement what we had done. Because it wasn't an interactive type of display I think the kids grew a little bored but their knowledge of what everything was and why was astounding! I saw many adults raise their eyebrows when they heard what the kids were talking about. :) I find it unreal that these pieces are in such pristine condition when they are 1000's of years old, it is amazing. I also found it a bit sad to see them uncovered and being flown around the world. These were buried with their owners for specific reasons and spiritual beliefs, it seems that because we see it as important history respect these beliefs goes out the window and this disturbs me a little. Until I actually saw the pieces I hadn't really given it much thought.

We had planned on heading over to Fitzroy Gardens but the weather was a bit wet so we opted for an early dinner at the infamous Shanghai Village in China Town for their awesome dumplings! We were not disappointed and shared a fabulous banquet between the six of us. Don't be fooled by the decor, it ain't the prettiest place on the block but they sure can cook!

With full bellies we trammed it to our hotel. We had scored a pretty good deal at Bay view on the Park. A nice hotel and the kids were very impressed! My only complaint was the concierge who didn't have the required local knowledge to be a good one.

On Wednesday we headed back into town with the ash cloud hanging over our heads. We decided to wait until after lunch to find out what the situation was.
We started with a Macca's brekky (yeah, I know) and then went to Screen worlds at ACMI. This is the best place to entertain children! Not only is it free but it is also awesome. We spent a couple of hours looking at all the exhibits documenting the history of film and tv in Australia. The kids loved that it is soooooo interactive and I must admit I am a bit of a button presser LOL
We also wandered downstairs to take a look at the Shaun Cladwell exhibit. I have to admit I am not an artist and therefore I do not think like one but let me say two things. 1] I am glad I didn't pay to see it and 2] I hope he wasn't given a government grant!
Up the street a bit and we were at the National Gallery of Victoria, we spent an hour or so in the kidlet section then hopped it up the road to a nearby food court for a quick lunch. Well that was the plan but it took us about two hours of trying to get through to Jetstar to find out what was or as the case may be wasn't happening with our flight. We finally were re booked for Friday afternoon and then started stalking wotif for a cheap hotel for two nights. Of course it would have been too easy to say we booked something straight up, Mrs P couldn't book on her (not so) smart phone so we bundled up the kidlets and backs and found ourselves in the city library in Flinders lane. Finally managed to book a mystery deal and scored a jackpot! Two nights at Sebel at Albert Park for $200 (half price). A quick dinner and a stroll back to Federation Square to watch the lights on the Light Hearts installation, and a taxi to the hotel. Talk about crash out, we were all exhausted.

On Thursday we decided to do our own thing. We were hoping to catch up with the kid's big sister but that didn't eventuate so we went to the visitor centre in Federation Square to find out what was on and where. This is a great centre and has loads and loads of info, I really didn't know there was so much to be done in the CBD. The weather was unpredictable so we opted for a quick look in St Paul's Cathedral opposite fed square. This place is huge and has such beautiful architecture and lead light windows.
The rain started again so we caught the tram up to the Melbourne Library and took a peak at the artwork from the book, The Waterhole by Graeme Base. His artwork is so amazing, such detail and gorgeous to see the massive originals up close. The library has a new kids section with interactive games, books and drawing space so we chilled there for an hour or so.
For lunch the kids begged me to take them to the Pancake Parlour, wow! talk about overpriced, crap service and mediocre food! never again I say. I am not linking to them as I don't want to promote them.
After lunch we made an executive decision to fore go the outdoor park activities due to the weather and opted to walk up to China Town and visit the Chinese Museum. I cannot recommend this enough folks! Well worth the very cheap entry price and for those with primary aged kids don't forget to grab a treasure map for $3.00 so they can do the quizzes as they go along. We all loved this place and the kids have talked about it for days so that is saying something. I am looking forward to going back again in August to see the embroidery of Sichuan exhibit. We decided to call it an earlyish day (5pm) and grab some sushi to take back to the hotel for dinner. The kids met up with Mr J and Ms M at the hotel pool and swam for over an hour while Mrs P and I compared days and sat back exhausted.
Friday morning we checked out and made our way into town for breakfast then to the skybus. We finally arrived home at 1.30pm on Friday afternoon, exhausted but content with our rushed and unexpected short holiday.

On the City Circle Tram

Waiting to get in

Screen Worlds

watching the kid's short films and having a rest at Screen world

The water wall at NGV

Drawing at the gallery - what else would you do!

The light installation, the frame work changed colour regularly

some of the beautiful artwork in the cathedral

One of the dragon heads at the Chinese Museum

Saying goodbye to the hotel

I have a new blog

2011-06-14T13:58:00.002+10:00

This new blog is for my genealogy research. I hope to document my findings and links etc. Come visit Going Home

Sunday selection in my city!

2011-06-12T19:13:00.000+10:00

Glorious day today, only 9c but just stunning. Took an afternoon stroll along one of the river walkways and snapped some nature on the way.

Sunday Selections
Sunday in my city

The house my great, great, great grandfather built

2011-06-07T20:44:00.000+10:00

I am tracing my family history. This is slow but oh so fascinating! I love history so to blend the history of white settlement in Australia with my own family makes me like a pig in the proverbial!

On Friday I took some me time and went to Oatlands to see what I could see! My mother's father's family originally settled there before moving on to other parts of Tasmania.

I struck up a conversation with a lady at the Catholic cemetery who told me of two houses that Charles Ellen had built in Oatlands and I was quite excited to see that they are still standing and have been renovated but tastefully so. Apparently the lady who had one of the renovated found a note left by Charles in the wall saying he had built the house!

He is also mentioned in the history of St James Church at Jericho as he did all the timber work for the rebuilding of the church in 1888.

I am loving this new hobby and will start working on a new blog to document my progress very soon.

Althought it says "built by George Aitcheson" he was the owner and Charles actually did the building!

I would love to get the opportunity to see inside this church. I don't think it actually functions as a church any longer though.

ASD cartoon

2011-06-07T14:44:00.002+10:00

A look at ASD through the eyes of a child. When George met Carl!

Get your musical on!!!!

2011-05-30T11:56:00.001+10:00

After Disney's success with the High School Musical movies they have gone full steam ahead on the musical genre. The soon to be released HSM spin off, 'Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure' is another of these.

Sharpay is on the search for success. Due to the fact that she is primarily an obnoxious, spoilt brat she is in for many surprises along the way and discovers success isn't that easy to find.

"pretty good" is the response I got from my 8yo son and "awesome!" came from my 7yo daughter. Mind you, anything with 'glamour' and music appeals to them. I found it to be a tad over the top and didn't like the role modelling presented by Sharpay. Great that the brat evolves into a semi likeable character but I know my daughter is highly impressionable as I am sure many other little girls are. How about some positive role models Disney!

However, if you are looking for something to entertain your wee ones then this movie will do it for sure!

This is due for release on 29th June 2011, and I notice you can now buy most of these dvds at the supermarket! How easy is that!

I have one copy of this dvd to give away. To be in the running, leave me a comment and tell me your favourite musical! Also be sure to tweet the post! Competition ends 25th June 2011

Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of the DVD courtesy of Disney Channel via Aussie Mummy Bloggers. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

And the winners are..................

2011-05-23T11:27:00.000+10:00

Drumroll please!

The minnie mouse dvd goes to Annette, congratulations Annette I am sure someone will love this dvd! Annette's fave character is Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The Lemonade Mouth movie goes to Spiral Mumma, she thought Merchants of Chaos would make a great band name, hmmm what genre? Congratulations and I hope you kids like this movie as much as mine did.

Could you both please contact me on kebeni3 at gmail dot com with your postal details so we can get these prizes out to you both.

Thanks to all who entered, please watch this space as I have more dvd give aways coming up over the next couple of weeks.

Long time no see! but back with prizes!!

2011-05-16T12:57:00.000+10:00

WOW! What a shocking couple of weeks I have had! I won't bore you with the details, but pneumonia and over a week in hospital should give you an idea.

To make up for my absence I am giving away TWO DVDs.

Yup! you heard it here!

TWO DVDs

Needless to say, my kids have had some extra screen time lately while I recuperate.

Two dvd's were sent to us recently for review, one for the littlies and another for the tweens.

The first is Mickey Mouse Club House - Minnie's masquerade. My kids love Mickey and his friends and so they should, he truly is timeless. I remember watching the original when I was young. It is still fun and what I call clean and safe viewing. You know there won't be any surprises that you'd rather they didn't see!

To see a preview visit here

To win a copy of this DVD simply leave a comment and tell me who your favourite Disney character is and why! This will be a quick competition and will be drawn on Saturday 21st May 2011 by random selection.

Second DVD is the all-new Disney Channel Original Movie, Lemonade Mouth Extended Edition. Lemonade Mouth is the story of five freshmen with nothing in common who meet by chance in detention and bond instantly as they discover their shared passion for music, friends and standing up for what you believe in.

Again, my kids loved this. I also thought it was a nice and positive story line where the teenagers fight for what they believe in.

You can see a short preview of the movie here before it is officially released on 1 June 2011.

To win this DVD simply leave a comment and tell me what would you call a rock band!

This will be a quick competition and will be drawn on Saturday 21st May 2011 by random selection.

Easter activities

2011-04-17T13:52:00.000+10:00

Do you do activities for Easter? Do you celebrate Easter?
Generally, because we aren't church going (apart from Nienna) we don't do much at all beyond ~~stashing eggs~~ giving the kids eggs.

This year we planned an egg decorating activity with our home ed group. this activity spans two weeks so you will have to check back again next week to see what happens in part two.

Because we had so much fun at the group we decided to play at home again on Friday and I took the time to take some pictures and do a bit of a tutorial.

What you will need:
food colour
vinegar
water
skewers or toothpick
sewing pin
candles
matches
paper towel
3 shallow containers
shallow tray or flat lid for working on
Eggs either hard-boiled eggs or blown eggs. The latter is ok for older children.

To blow the egg you need to give it a really good shake first, this breaks up the membranes and makes it easier to blow.
Next take a sewing pin and gently push a small hole in the top and bottom of the egg. Then take a toothpick or skewer and gently enlarge the hole.
Over a small bowl blow into one end of the egg until all the egg has blown out into the bowl. Give the inside a rinse and set aside to dry.

For easy handling I put a skewer through the blown eggs and secured with a bit of blue (pink) tac. Put these aside for wax decorating.

For tie-dyed eggs

You will need vinegar and I think white works best, however I only had brown for this example.

water

I used the lid of a large plastic tub but any shallow container to sit your work on will do. You then lay gladwrap, or because I don't use it I cut a plastic bag in half and laid that down.

Soak a piece of paper towel in water and then squeeze about half the water out, lay out flat and sprinkle with vinegar. I think you could actually put the vinegar in the water and save yourself a step.

Now for the fun part of adding colour. Either use those small squeeze bottles of food dye or use droppers and put your colours on the paper towel. I suggest a maximum of three drops of three different colours, otherwise you will end up with a messy brown egg.

Place the eggs in the middle of the paper and wrap it up. Place it somewhere in the sun and leave for a few hours. Unwrap and leave to dry off.

Wax and dye eggs

Take your eggs on the skewers and drip candle wax on them. You can try a design or just do random drops.

In a shallow container put water and food dye of your choice. Remove eggs from the skewers and place in dye, leave to soak for at least 15 min on each side.

Then place in hot oven on paper towel to melt the wax off

Once the wax has gone and the eggs have cooled a bit place them in your next colour then repeat the process.

You can be as fancy as you want and create patterns of colour by controlling where you put the wax.

The end results are lovely and unique.

These are the ones we did at home.

These are some of the eggs we did at home ed group. The silver and glittery ones were done by Beren and Nienna and are simply painted on with acrylic paint and glitter glue.

The front middle one is one I did by drawing on the egg in bees wax crayon and then soaking in a dye bath. The front left is one Nienna did using the tie-dye method.

Next week we will finish these off with beads, ribbons and other adornments to hang from our season tree.

Egyptian studies

2011-04-12T11:58:00.000+10:00

We have been learning about Ancient Egypt for the past few weeks. Nienna has had a long running fascination with the topic and Beren also enjoyed learning. We read a lot of books and looked at some great websites including one that converts english text into heiroglyphics
We have finished up now except for our mummy project that still has a few more weeks to go.

Beren made this pharoah mask with gold card and beads

Nienna chose a breast plate like Cleopatra

Mummifying a Chicken

This is the chicken bagged up and ready to have it's salt changed. We packed it and left it for six weeks.

You can see that it is starting to dry out. The salt was totally soaked and lots of liquid sat in the bottom of the bag. It didn't smell as bad as I had anticipated.

We brushed off the old salt then repacked it in a new bag with fresh salt

All packed up and sealed again ready to be reopened in another six weeks.

Sunday in my City

2011-04-10T17:54:00.000+10:00

I took a walk around the cemetery today. I wanted to find some of my family member's graves. Sadly a few are unmarked but I found some gems. I must say I am now obsessed with pottery moulded flowers and the obvious obsession of some to continue keeping up with the Jones's in the afterlife.

Sundays

ancient wisdom

2011-04-08T21:26:00.000+10:00

Today I was fortunate enough to visit the river banks at Deloraine at the same time as the launch of a bark canoe.

This was a joint project between the justice youth workers at Colony47 and Aboriginal youth at Ashley Detention Centre.

We watched as a young man proudly paddled a canoe he helped make, cheered on by peers, teachers and strangers. It was a beautiful moment to observe, an insight into ancient culture as it is handed down to another generation.

I only wish I was fortunate enough to be part of such a timeless, wise and beautiful people.

It was a shame no media deemed this project important enough to attend (as promised) so others could share the moment and celebrate the positives manifested from such an event.

We all learnt so much today, thank you to all concerned.

and the Winner is.............

2011-04-06T22:46:00.001+10:00

Cranky mum!!

Remember way back when I offered the totally gorgeous dvd of Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 for a prize and all you had to do was get your kidlets to tell us what they would call a puppy.

Well, Cranky mum's little one said she would call her puppy "FRIDAY". Would that mean the dog would do all her jobs or would it just always be Friday at their place?

Anyway, congratulations and I have emailed you Cranky Mum, all you need do is let me know your postal details and the dvd will be on it's way to your door, courtesy of Porter Novelli!

Sunday again

2011-04-03T21:31:00.000+10:00

Joining in on my two Sunday memes once again. Although I have to admit this happened yesterday and today was a bit mundane and uneventful.

Nienna had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon so we finished off sewing our gifts. She designed a horse and I sewed it together, bit shabby but made with love.

We made some felt hair ties and Nienna made a bead bracelet by herself that spelt out the birthday girl's name

Lastly a bag to put the gifts in. I hate wrapping paper and prefer to make a bag that can be used again and again to 'wrap' the gift in.

Before the party we went to city park to see the Dinosaur Petting show. This is part of an annual event called Ten days on the Island. It was fabulous, the host was wonderful with the children and added enough adult humour to keep the parents amused too. Unfortunately I couldn't get a spot to see the show but could hear it clearly and see the dinosaurs on there way to and from the stage area.

If this show comes near you I thoroughly recommend it!

A bonus feature of being in the park was having the Australian Youth Orchestra and Tasmanian Youth Orchestra playing. We picnicked with our friends and listened to the beautiful music on offer before heading off to the birthday party. Perfect day for the park as it was glorious sunshine all day!

While Nienna partied, Beren and I went for a drive and accidently found ourselves at Andi's Gelato house and well, we had to do some serious quality control testing. This ice-cream is divine!!!! Our selections for the day were: berry yoghurt, baked cheesecake and death by chocolate.

We were serenaded by this little fellow while we ate.

We did a bit of exploring down lane ways and farm roads, I loved this drive on a property on Quamby Bend. This part of Tasmania is home to so many of the original old farming properties, some still run by the same families.

A little later we took a wander around the old St Marys Church at Hagley and found the graves of three possible ancestors on my mothers side.

I let Beren have a play with the good camera too which he was thrilled about.

sunday in my city

forget the organic food! Get some organic learning into ya!

2011-04-01T12:14:00.000+11:00

As I sit here in front of the screen procrastinating (and putting off a sewing task I have promised Nienna I would do), I am listening to my two children. They are sitting together in the lounge room making lists, writing invites and drawing up plans for a two storey house they have decided to build. The lists are of materials they will need and quantities. For the record, Nienna wants it to look olden dayish cos she is 'fascinated with old times' apparently!
The invites are to people asking for their help in saving up to build this house and also asking them to help build it. Poppy gets a personal letting asking for his assistance as he built his shed!
Nienna being the ~~bossiest~~ most organised of the two is doing a jobs lists for everyone LOL
Beren is going to be in charge of the blue prints from what I believe. Oh and the house will be in the country so they will need horses to gallop up and down the hills and someone to carry buckets of water.
I am typing this stuff as I hear it, what an entertaining way to spend my morning. Interspersed with the occasional "how do you spell......."

Organic learning as we speak. Beren, will argue with me for hours if I ask him to write something, yet he has spent the last hour doing it!
Beautiful!! What are your kids learning today??

One of Beren's letters, they will be sent to everyone they know

Nienna's work in progress of materials needed.

He asked me to write the one to pop so he will understand the writing.

101 veggie lasagne

2011-03-29T12:57:00.001+11:00

This is made with my six year old fussy eater in mind and ~~catering to her tastes~~ so hiding certain veggies!

I used:

1 can of savoury lentils

4 pieces of rye mountain bread

1 large piece of sweet potato

2 med potatoes

1.5 cups of mixed corn, peas, grated zucchini, grated carrot

2 cups of grated cheese

Salt

Pepper

Nutmeg

Butter

Steamed sweet potato with a good knob of butter, cracked pepper and nutmeg, mix in all ingredients but leave some texture.

slice potatoes ready for layering

place the mixed veg in a pot with butter, salt and pepper and warm through.

I lined bottom of square baking dish with the lentils then added some of the mixed veg and topped with cheese and 2 layers of mountain bread.

Next I layered sliced potatoes and gave them a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper then topped with rest of veg mix, cheese and last 2 sheets of bread.

Lastly I topped with all the sweet potato and the rest of the cheese.

yummo

Of course you can use any veg you want. I used the mountain bread to make this wheat free but normal pasta can be used. It doesn't need to be cooked as such, just warmed through in the oven.

Bon Appetit

Home ed in Egypt

2011-03-28T09:00:00.000+11:00

well not exactly in Egypt, but we have been absorbed with Egypt these last few weeks. We have mummified a chicken (an on going project) and we have been doing loads of reading, work sheets and puzzles to learn about ancient Egypt.

Our chicken project is due for it's second stage next week. I will be sure to take some pictures this time to share. We got the idea from this website if you would like to try this yourself. If the idea of using a chicken is too much for you then you can use an apple.

Last week we did some craft and Beren started making a Pharaohs mask, while Nienna chose to make a neck adornment and bracelet. We used gold and silver cardboard which was great as we could trace outlines onto the coloured side and make indents. They decorated them by gluing beads onto them.

We will finish these off later this week as I want to do some work on Tasmanian convicts before visiting the convict cemetery on Wednesday.

Sunday in my City

2011-03-27T12:52:00.001+11:00

We had a lot of rain in a very short time this week. This saw over 20 major roads closed across the state, several towns and communities isolated and lots of flash flooding.

To help with the deluge they lowered the Trevallyn dam and let some water through. This water comes all the way from The Great Lake system, through the northern midlands to the dam then down through Cataract Gorge and through Launceston, to eventually be free at the mouth of the river system in Georgetown.

I love this shot, I wasn't sure if the rainbow would come out or not. The spray from the deluge of water was rising well above the trees and looked like smoke. The powerful and magnificent mother earth at her best

This one of the windy paths through the Cataract Gorge

Not sure why?

This reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle, as does life

and finally, what is wrong with this picture??

joining Sundays in My City
and
Sunday Selection at the frogpond

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

2011-03-22T12:40:00.001+11:00

okay, have I got your attention now??

I am pleased to be able to offer a dvd/bluray pack of the movie

Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2

My kids absolutely loved this movie. Having seen the first one some time ago they still got into it and loved the addition of puppy love and the babies. Was very entertaining for them and I am sure any child would love this movie even if they haven't seen the first.

To win simply add a comment BY YOUR CHILD!! of what they would call a puppy if they got one! I will draw this randomly in two weeks on 5 April. This post has been sponsored by Porter Novelli and all opinions are my own.

Home ed camp weekend

2011-03-21T14:43:00.000+11:00

We had our camp this weekend, from Friday afternoon til Sunday afternoon. It was just awesome!! We took along the divine Ms M and Master J with us so their mother could have some study time. They were not disappointed and I think are quite envious of us home schoolers :)

We arrived around 8pm on Friday night and settled in then joined the others at the camp fire for toasted marshmallows and chatter. The children were playing spotlight with some of the parents too.

The camp itself is a great spot. Nestled in natural bushland it has a large hall, dining room and kitchen, bathroom block and then four bunkhouses of varying size. Further down is a large grassy area for camping and play then a bonfire pit and a few metres from that is the beach. The beach is beautiful and a great place for finding ocean treasures but is all rocks and oyster shells. This means no bare feet unfortunately. This didn't stop kids from swimming, wading and exploring though. Some fishing was done too without much success though.

Rocks were collected and ground to make paint for body painting. Thus the "Paper Beach Tribe" was born!

Later on Saturday night we had a bush dance with the added bonus of Nienna, Ms A and Ms J putting on a karaoke and interpretive dance performance.

Beren and I did a night time nature walk as there are many wallabies, bandicoot, possums and pademelon in the area to watch. It was also a great spot to see the awesome full moon.

I don't think anyone left unsatisfied on Sunday. I can't wait until the next camp and think we should do it more than once a year!

merely an observation

2011-03-15T21:34:00.000+11:00

Since moving back to Tasmania there is one thing I have really become aware of. Something that I overhear or 'see' in conversation that I haven't been aware of in any other state I have lived in.

I am referring to the fact that people seem to feel it necessary to highlight a person's nationality/colour/religion when retelling a story. For example: "I nearly got sides-wiped by a car today being driven by a Muslim woman" or " I dropped my purse and a nice black man picked it up for me". (these are made up to show what I mean).
I never hear " A lovely Caucasian fellow helped me with my bag".

Why is it we need to highlight the non-caucasian? Often it is used in cases of anger as if stating this person was 'different' justifies the anger or the derogative language being used. Perhaps by saying the other person was black/red/asian/Muslim automatically makes the speaker the innocent party in some eyes.

I don't think I do it, but then again maybe it is something that is just done sub-consciously. Why does colour, caste, religion or ethnicity matter? Aren't we all just men and women making our way through life the best we can?

Something had to give.

2011-03-14T21:32:00.000+11:00

and it was uni. I have come to realise now is not my time. I cannot manage everything and I guess I don't have to manage everything. I am so good at giving advise and placating those who feel overwhelmed or stressed but rarely do I heed my own words.
I am grieving, as weird as it sounds and feel like I have failed. Even though I know I haven't and should give myself a good hard slap for thinking so!

Anyway, today I knew I shouldn't be alone and I also knew someone who should be having some time out so I called her and collected her and we had a gorgeous day at Evandale. FOr those not in Tassie, Evandale is a historic little village south of Launceston. It hosts the Pennyfarthing championships every year and also a major art exhibit/competition called The Glover Prize annually. We went and checked out the paintings and were not disappointed, there was some seriously good stuff there! At least half had sold (for large $$$$) and the rest I have no doubt will sell before the exhibit ends, well maybe not the $30k piece but you never know! I voted for a gorgeous pencil drawing for my people's choice and I must admit I wasn't overly taken with the winner this year.

We had devonshire tea afterwards then took a stroll around the village. Ooohing at the most expensive shop in the world, aaaahing at the antique place with an owner who would have made Prue n Trude proud (oim sure she goes to Noosaaaa every year!) and admiring all the gorgeous old houses. I even took loads of photos for the first time in ages.

I came home feeling much calmer and replenished and ready to face another busy week.

for mother earth

2011-03-11T19:08:00.002+11:00

International Women's Day

2011-03-09T16:53:00.000+11:00

I know it was yesterday but this is brilliant.

Keeping it together

2011-03-07T20:44:00.000+11:00

or at least I am trying to keep it together. So far this year I have really come to the understanding of being a solo parent. Now, I know the kids do have a dad who they see regularly but his input as a parent is very minimal. I jokingly call him a babysitter but that isn't too far from the truth.

Since finding out that Beren has autism it has become blatantly clear that his dad also has it. Probably the only thing we have agreed on in years! This explains an awful lot for me and it saddens me that he is too old and stubborn to ever seek or agree to some form of intervention to help him find life a little easier.

Having said that though, I don't think it excuses a clear lack of interest in what is going on with his kids. NEVER does he ask what therapy Beren is having, what the kids have been learning at my house, what extra curricular activities they are doing. NOTHING! Despite this I let him know what is going on, even though he gives no response, eye contact or thank you. I am not sure why I bother really.

But this isn't what pisses me off or wears me down the most. What does that is that I am doing this whole kid wrangling on my own. We have a minimum of two appointments a week, plus home ed group, library and trampolining. I am the one who has to take the kids to all of these and I am tired. It would be so nice to have another parent around to hand over to occasionally. To say, "hey I need a break can you take B to his appointment" and be able to 1. trust that they would go, 2. Rely on any important messages being relayed back to me, 3. The 'specialist' won't be completely insulted and wipe us off their list.

I don't want to be the only adult in this family. I am exhausted from carrying the load emotionally, physically and financially. I don't get shit from him for any of this. Yes, I have friends who understand and sympathise, I have my folks also who are great. But, that is not the same as having another parent who gives a shit beyond what fucking level he is on in pokemon etc and can support our children by helping me.

But I will keep it together because I have no choice. Shit, if I was childless and under this amount of stress I would have tossed in the towel long ago and said goodbye. But I can't do that so I have to soldier on. I savour those little moments that make my heart swell and remind myself why I am doing all of this.

Fantasia Winner

2011-03-01T12:18:00.000+11:00

Well, it is the day to draw the lucky winner. I used random.org to choose the winning post number but can't work out how to put it up on here.

The WINNER IS.....................

Post number two, Kate.
Kate, congratulations! you will be sent a double disk collector set of Fantasia. I really hope your family enjoy the movie.

Please email at kebeni3 at gmail dot com with your postal details so we can get it in the post to you.

home made butter - THE tutorial

2011-02-23T20:41:00.001+11:00

We have been making our own butter for a couple of weeks now. It is sooooo easy and sooooooo much tastier than bought stuff. I am not sure of the cost comparison so will work that out next time I make it. The last two batches have been super cheap though as I scored four 375ml cartons of cream marked down to $1.30 each and froze one. I wasn't sure if freezing would be okay but I made a batch last night and it worked fine and tastes fine, so that is a bonus.

I thought I would share with you how we go about it.

Step one

Put 375ml (or less) of pure runny cream (no gelatine added) into a breakproof container with a couple of marbles. I use an easiyo container with pouring lid but any similar sized container would do. You need it to have a wide opening though, to get the butter out.

Step Two

Make sure lid is on securely and shake like made. When it gets to that point point where it is super thick and you think it won't shake any more, KEEP GOING! It is almost done.

It will start to sound runny again, which means the butter milk and solids have separated. Shake for a bit more to make sure all the butter solids have come together and aren't too gluggy. See picture below.

Step Three
Pour off butter milk. I find this is the easiest way but you could use a colander very gently. Once you have poured off the excess then for butter into a ball and rinse under cold water to get any more milk off. This helps to prevent the butter going rancid.

Step Four
Once all the butter milk has been poured off and rinsed, tip butter onto clean work area and knead for a little while (like a dough). This helps get any more butter milk out and brings it all together. You can add a sprinkle of salt at this stage too as it helps it keep better.

Step Five
I have tried this without butter paddles and it is a pain. I picked mine up from ebay super cheap and they are actual antique ones that were used by the sellers grandma, such a nice thought that we are continuing a tradition for someone.
This is the step where you bring it into shape. You can do butter curls and fancy shapes but we just put this into a brick shape as it had softened due to the warm room.

There you have it. So nice and easy!! A great activity for kids and what is better than eating your very own butter. Especially if you have it with home made bread and jam!

Fantasia Fantastic Give Away

2011-02-21T19:50:00.002+11:00

Wow! This is my first review and give away. A what a classic on offer. Fantasia has been digitally restored and is even more spectacular than when it was first released by Disney in 1940.

I have to say I love this film, but I grew up in the days of Disney and traditional cartoons such as Mickey Mouse club, Daffy Duck and Goofy. My children watched it but weren't as entertained as me and I think this is more to do with the visually spectacular Pixar films that have spoilt them rather than the content of the film. They did laugh and stay focussed on the film despite them saying it was old fashioned LOL

You now have the opportunity to see for yourself what your children think. Leave a comment telling me the first film you ever saw as a child and you will go into the draw to win a 2 disc special edition of the original classic Fantasia. This includes blue-ray and dvd discs!!

Competition winner will be drawn on or around 1st March 2011

and here is a sneak preview if you haven't seen it before

**NB Please note I received a free copy of this gift pack from Porternovelli but all opinions are purely my own.**

Sunday

2011-02-20T19:36:00.000+11:00

Today Nienna had a birthday party to go to for a little friend turning seven. Due to my 'no new purchases' vow I discussed what she would like to make as a gift. We came up with the following dress and a matching back I forgot to photograph. Nienna designed the dress and I made it. I think we did pretty good, what do you think?

sundays in my city
Sunday Selection

Bogan, the new black

2011-01-28T23:39:00.000+11:00

It would seem that to be bogan is to be the equivalent of the 'little black dress'. At least in the cyber world! It has come to my attention lately that more and more people are using the term 'bogan' to describe themselves.

What once was a derogatory term for those from lower social classes with less opportunity has now become a trendy catch cry for the 'non-bogan' community.

I hear it bandied about in cafes, on the bus and in the blog-sphere of today. Bloggers such as Mrs Woogs have been known to proudly announce their bogan heritage. Infact, many bloggers have turned to a 'spanglish' style of language that could perhaps be named 'Boglish'.

This turn in fashion was 'wisely' predicted at bogan central, who claimed "The latest trend is to "embrace your inner Bogan". Embrace your inner boganness for the Bogan Revoloution is about to tsunami."

These lessons may be necessary as the bogan has evolved somewhat. An example of this can be seen in your female of the species. Once upon a time the uniform worn by the 'boganette' would have been a longish tee (possibly knotted at the side), lycra/nylon stretch leggings (mumble pants) and white, tassled FMB's (F&^k me boots) and to top it all of nicely a very stiff, immovable plumage of fringe adding an extra half foot of height. Now, if you live in Tasmania and work in a supermarket it is quite possible that you fit this description!

Today's boganette can often be seen in trendy boutique wear (think Supre) and sporting a rather unfortunate facial affliction known as 'duck face syndrome'.

Does this mean that the classic original bogans of the 80's generation will have to stoop a little lower and find a new persona?

And, if you want to embrace your inner bogan, lessons can always be found at Wikihow

Melbourne

2011-01-21T22:27:00.000+11:00

we are in Melbourne for a short break at the moment. It is HOT! so we did what any normal Aussie does

so much sadness and death

2011-01-14T21:44:00.001+11:00

I am feeling so overloaded with grief and worry at the moment and I am not even flood threatened. So many lives lost world wide in floods this past week. Not just Australia but Sri Lanka, Phillipines and Brazil, infact these last three make our floods look like puddles.

It is really like re-living the Victorian bushfires, not knowing if all your loved ones are safe and feeling so damn helpless. Listening to the news on the radio is addictive yet I feel so guilty of voyeurism in a way, I need to know what is happening but only slightly more than I want to just bury myself in my doona and pretend it all away.

somehow, I think the worse is to come with the clean up. When people finally get into their homes and assess the damage and have time to be in shock. My heart truly goes out. Anna Bligh, the premier of QLD has done an amazing job, she has surpassed our prime minister in my opinion and I think I have heard others whisper the same. I also have a new respect for Kevid Rudd as I watched him cart suitcases of belongings out of student accommodation for absent students (I hope he wasn't looting :P).

There is one thing that stands out in Australia and that is that tragedy really does bring us together. We will jump in and just 'do'.
Now if you can do, please help out by donating to the flood relief appeal. Don't respond to door-knockers and such as their are, very sadly, scammers out and about but click on the picture below or donate at your local supermarket checkout. Every little bit helps!

Sunday in my City

2011-01-09T18:20:00.002+11:00

Beautiful weather today. Not too hot so I ventured out to a local spot that attracts young and old. The Cataract Gorge is five minutes from the city centre and a stunning spot.

The chair lift is the largest single span chair lift in the world apparently.

I hadn't been on it for a long time and loved the photo opportunities from above.

Beautiful colours but he didn't want to show off to me. Their are many peacocks in the reserve.

A cute paddymelon. I saw four of them in my walk. this poor little fellow was being harrassed by children until I told them to bugger off!

This lady could possibly have the best spot on a hot day!

Too cool to swim, just observers

This area is often packed out. During winter rains it floods completely

and you can't even see the shelter over the back.

Blogger Fail 101 v's Real Life Win 101

2011-01-09T00:27:00.000+11:00

Not a fail really as it doesn't particularly bother me. A couple of months back I thought I would get in on the blogger action, boost my blog and make ~~millions~~ a couple of dollars. I put all the advert stuff on and then I looked around at other blogs to see what they were advertising. within days I removed the code. WHY? In all honesty I couldn't promote what I didn't believe in. If we don't use it or like it how could I ethically say to others "here is this great product!!" I would have been hard pressed to find something to advertise LOL Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying people shouldn't do it. If you use do and you make money from it then WAY TO GO! It just wasn't some thing for me.

I also made the all consuming effort to join the memes, the flog and boost your blog and all of that. You know what, it is really time consuming and I just can't do it. Not because I work or anything like that but because I like to spend time with my kids and away from the computer. Honestly it was taking forever. Not just the actual post writing and linking etc etc but if I was going to join in on a meme then I wanted to read those other blogs, not just join it for personal promotion and ignore the others. My reader has grown to an average of 400 blog posts a day and I just can't read them all. So I will not participate when I am not able to 'give' as such. It is not fair of me to have others read me and promote me and me do nothing in return.

Don't get me wrong, I have found some awesome blogs and value the words these people, mostly women take the time to write and that has been great. I am not deleting my reader but I am not stressing if I don't get to read every blog post that is written. I will do a meme if I have something to write that suits but I am not going to fret over it. Life is too short and I have more important things to do with my time.

I guess I am not the geek I thought I was LOL Bugger, just a friggin wanna be geek. I will go paint a backward L on my forehead now!

However, all is not lost, I am getting heaps of shit done! I am not going to write about christmas. blah blah blah you read one post you read em all. presents, money, family, food, booze, fights (oh hang on, nope no fights) so I won't bore you. My kids are yoyo-ing between my house and their dad's place. They current have their step sisters visiting from Melbourne so are rapt about that. They haven't seen them for well over a year. I see these two girls and oh boy do I feel old. They were almost 6 and 8 when I met their dad and now they are 16 and 18 and blossoming into young women. So, I talk to the kids often and I went and visited them today and took them icecream and icecream cones!! It is bloody hot here at the moment, did I mention that. FARK!!! melting! The younger sister, H is bed ridden with severe sunburn and sunstroke (damn lucky Tassie is crap weather and doesn't get hot or goodness knows what would happen!) so they are house bound atm.

My free time has been spend ever so productively! Sleeping, naturally to make up for the lost years of sleep when my children were younger and were waking every night (last week actually). A bit of weeding has been done. Some friend visiting. Some sewing, ah yes, this may deserve a paragraph on it's own later. Some tv watching, beer drinking, ~~ball scratching~~ oops nail varnishing and reading. For my tv viewing (over the past few weeks actually) I have seen:
Treme - wow!! Set in New Orleans music district three months post Hurricane Katrina, it is drama but it is awesome. Very easy to become involved with all the characters and the music is tremendous. John Goodman places a brilliant role in this first series.
Boardwalk Empire - another amazing HBO production! Set during the prohibition in the USA amidst the Irish/Italian struggle for power in the ganglands. Great acting and directing.
Glee - not sure there is anyone out there who doesn't know what this is. I decided I should check it out. Not a complete loss of time but I am still trying to work out if it is comedy or drama LOL
Fame - OMFG!! Now anyone who remembers the original tv series will die if they see this. It is blasphemy at it's finest! Fucking shambles.......
Salt -I usually like Angelina but this was lame IMO who is a spy, who isn't. too busy and not enough story
Inglorious Basterds - wow, lots of killing and violence but I liked it for some bizarre reason. One thing about Brad Pitt is that you can really see he just LOVES acting! I saw it in Burn After Reading where he played a perfect himbo and once again in this film.
The Town - fabulous film. Lots of action but not too over done. Ben Affleck produces and acts in it, he is great and ~~Don Draper~~ John Ham is the FBI agent. Well worth the watch!
Pirate Radio Hilarious, great film. A real feel good movie with some great English actors such as Bill Nighy, Phillip Hoffman and Chris O'Dowd (IT Crowd).
The Social Network - in a word? Crap but mildly entertaining crap
The Corner - Oh boy, this is confronting. I have watched the first of a six part series of it. It is an older HBO series and is based on a non-fiction book. Set in an area of Baltimore renown for it's drug dealing/dependancy and poverty. Heartbreaking
Animal Kingdom - Australian film with Ben Mendehlson and Jackie Weaver. I saw this on the movie show and thought it would be great but I was disappointed with it. I thought it was very weak.

Now just when you thought I was turning into a couch potato I have also been reading some great books.
I, The Aboriginal - awesome! This is the story of a traditional Aborigine told by Douglas Lockwood. It was written in 1962 and tells of this guys life and that of his family.
The Other Side of the Frontier - Henry Reynolds is a historian well known for his support of the indigenous people and their battles for land rights and recognition. Excellent book and one of many of his that I love.
Dumbing Us Down - John Taylor Gatto, writes on the education system and it's inadequacies. Great read!
God's Call Girl - very weird read, this chick is strange and I am not sure I actually believe the book.
Unveiled - ten interviews with nuns in the UK from different denominations. Really interesting read. An op shop find.
Brothers to us - another op shop find and great read. About a white family in South Africa who were harrassed, jailed and threatened for their support of native south africans.
Look Me in the eye - an account of living with aspergers by John Elder Robison. Fabulous book gives a great insight into ASD
Life at the Edge and Beyond - a mothers journey with a son with aspergers.
House Rules - Jodi Picoult. although fiction this is fabulous for people touched by ASD. She has done heaps of research and it is written from several peoples perspectives.
Rape of the Soul So Profound - by Peter Read who coined the phrase "stolen generation'. Have also just started this book but am impressed so far.
Father's Music - currently reading this book by Irish Author Dermot Bolger and enjoying it. You can tell he is also a poet as his words seem quite lyrical at times.
These are just some of the books I have read over the past year, I can't remember them all so these would be the last couple of months only. I mean to write them down this year or join goodreads or something. I wish I had a dollar for every book I read...........

Enough for now, next post I will talk about my plans for the year and the sewing I have been doing. That is the plans other than those in my last post.

Consumer Challenge #2

2011-01-02T22:31:00.001+11:00

Back by popular demand is my 'no buy policy'. I am aware of the fact that I have been spending when I shouldn't be, spending money on credit that I shouldn't and well basically consuming and it makes me angry at myself and ashamed at the waste.

thus, I have gone back to the archives and found this post from January 2008 when I did a consumer challenge and given the rules a bit of a polish and here they are!

My rules for this challenge are:

1. I can buy shoes, underwear, toiletries, food, medicines new.

2. Clothing is sourced from 2nd hand shops, opshops, freecycle or made.

3. Fabrics are from my already massive stash or opshops, as is yarn. If I don't have what is required I will try and source 2nd hand or improvise.

4. All gifts/cards etc will be handmade or second hand. I do have a stash of things in my gift cupboard that I will use too.

5. Unless something is desperately needed and I can't find 2nd hand or freecycle then I will consider purchasing it new IE washing machine/fridge etc

6. I will menu plan as best I can and try to be as economical for our groceries as possible.

7. I am aiming to pay my loan off earlier than required to save me money.

8. I am decluttering, what I don't need I am passing on to freecycle and the opshops. I am also selling goods that can be sold.

9. I am teaching and including my children in all of the above so they will continue to be 'aware'

10. I have sustainable storage solutions. I use a minimum of plastic containers, no foil/gladwrap etc We use stainless re-usable drink bottles for our water.

There, I did it before and it can be done again. Who's going to join me!!!!!!!!

My challenge will go for the year but you can set your own time limit on it.

christmas kimono

2010-12-24T22:08:00.000+11:00

Nienna wanted a kimono for Christmas from her dad, he couldn't find one in time and asked me to sew one with some fabric she had chosen.

I think it turned out pretty good considering I didn't have a pattern. It is fully lined with some linen I had and I added some red fabric into to break up the poinsettia fabric a bit.

That Bloody Quilt!!!

2010-12-23T17:21:00.001+11:00

is finally finished!!!!

WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!

It is smaller than planned as I trimmed it a little too eagerly, some of the stitched are a bit wonky, but it is made with love and I forgive myself as it is my first.

I am no longer a quilt virgin :)

the reverse side

Frugal Friday - co-operatives

2010-12-17T19:11:00.000+11:00

I used to be in an awesome co-op in Melbourne and lamented the loss of that when I moved. But I recently discovered that a few of the home ed families here run one and I collected my first order today.
A co-op is a great way to buy bulk, often organic/bio dynamic produce and a discounted price. It isn't quite wholesale but still a lot cheaper than the stores. It also reduces food miles and packaging.

It is also a great way to get to know like minded families and enlarge your community.

Here are a few links with info on co-ops and their locations:

Friends of the Earth

Eco Directory

Thoughtful Foods

Organic Food Directory

Source Wholefoods - Hobart

Starting a Co-op