Loving my Library

I love my library. With money being tight I can't afford to buy too many books. Also, with my ongoing attempts to declutter and have less stuff I can't justify having lots of books around.

I used to use the library a lot when I was younger, however, with moving around into different areas I got out of the habit. In addition, the last area I lived in charged for reserving books which kind of put me off.

However, I have got back into the swing of using my library. I tend to use it just to reserve books rather than browsing the shelves. I have to sometimes be careful with how I manage my holds as I had few times where I had a couple of books out at the same time and had to read very quickly to make sure they were back on time. If somebody else has a hold on them you cannot renew the item so have a deadline of 3 weeks to work to. Also, you need to be prepared for sometimes a long wait for a book. I had one book that I had to wait 10 months for - thankfully it was a good read so I wasn't too disappointed!

My library also operates a system where you can create a wish list of books that you want to read. This has been great as I am trying to work through Oprah's book list so whenever I need a book I can just request it from my wish list.

It's also been great for B now that he is into chapter books. I can pick up books at the library that I think he may enjoy to test the waters. This way we have been able to find out what authors he loves. Usually once he enjoys one book he is keen to read other books by the same author.

As I was preparing this post I was watching Tim Winton being interviewed. Prior to the show I placed a hold for his new book and was 27th in line (and they don't even have the book yet). Another one I may have to wait awhile for!

So as long as I return the books on time my library is free so it's nice and easy on the pocket. Also, if I get a book that I don't enjoy I don't need to worry too much as it hasn't cost me anything except time.

I would love to hear any suggestions for good reads to add to my list!

Crafty Joint Project

As with most kids B has a fair few stuffed toys. However, in that collection there is no cat. He has been asking one for a while and I said that after his birthday party I would make him one. Of course, with his memory he remembered and held me to it!

I am so not a cat person at all. As such, in my collection of patterns I did not have any patterns for cats. Upon turning to Pinterest there were very few patterns there and B didn't like any of them. I was then thinking that this could turn out to be a very involved project.

For some inspiration and to try to get a handle on what his vision was I asked B to draw a picture of the cat he wanted for me. This is what he came up with:

From there I decided to replicate his cat almost exactly rather than muck around trying to come up with a compromise. I traced around his cat onto interfacing making a few of the pieces a bit bigger and manageable.

I had some felt and the stuffing already so this was actually a free project. It only cost me my time which was about 2 evenings of work.

I think it looks cute and quirky. He took it to church with him this morning and various people called it a dog and rabbit but he was very quick to correct them. He really loves it and I think it does have a lot to do that he was the creator.

I would love to know what you think. I only hope I haven't started something here!!!!

RIP Hard Rubbish

I love Hard Rubbish collections!

However, I am really sad that most councils seem to have done away with them. I know they offer collections at the times you need them but I love everyone putting their stuff out at the same time and people going through to get what they want/need. I know that the streets look really bad for the week or so beforehand but to me it is the ultimate form of recycling. I have picked up quite a few things over time and have had friends collect stuff on my behalf when they know there is something in particular I need.

I have one friend who has made money selling stuff that she has found put out for hard rubbish. Another got a coffee machine that retails for quite a bit of money but spent a little on getting it repaired and it worked a treat for years.

Some of my hard rubbish treasures over the years:

Sand pit/pool

Car. In the background is a stove/washing machine/dryer which has been through a few friends but was also a hard rubbish find!

I would love to hear your thoughts on Hard Rubbish and maybe some of your great finds. Good, bad or indifferent?

Surprise Day

Today being Thursday we often don't have things on and we sometimes do special things or do the ordinary running around shopping/jobs. I did have a haircut scheduled for today, however, I found out there was something on at Albert Park that I knew B would enjoy.

There is a classic car show on in Melbourne this weekend. It would cost me $20 to go (with B free). Not being really into cars myself and with a busy weekend ahead of us I thought "oh well" and didn't think we'd do it. However, I discovered that they were doing a parade of the cars from Albert Park Lake to the Exhibition Buildings today which was free so I thought I can't miss it! I was going to just go into the city and line up somewhere along the route but realised that you could see them all at Pit Lane at Albert Park for 2 hours before they started.

Pink Cadillac - the favourite for the boy obsessed with pink!

I have always told B what we are doing each day from a very young age. One because I think it's good for him to know what is happening and also being only the 2 of us it's nice to talk things through (even when he couldn't talk back). However, I decided that I would make today a "surprise" day and not tell him what was happening. I thought it would be good to make it into a special day and by him not knowing it would create this sense of excitement about the day.

Model T fruit & vegetable delivery truck - another popular one

We had a lovely day (apart from being a little under dressed). He got to walk amongst all the cars, see them arrive and take their spots. He was even offered a seat on a motorbike and in one of the cars but declined (he's getting a bit nervous about that sort of thing at the moment). I had packed our lunch and we put down the picnic blanket near where all the cars would be leaving so we had a prime viewing spot to enjoy our lunch and see them leave.

Aston Martin - James Bond eat your heart out!

He's already talking about our next surprise day. I think it will become a regular thing but not too regular so as not to lessen the meaning. It was great to spend the day doing something that he really loves even though it's not my thing. And best of all it didn't cost us anything except for petrol and parking!

3 Wheeled Car - it had it's wheels counted a few times!!

When life gives you Lemons make...........

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to spend a few days with a friend at her family's beach house. We had a great time and it was lovely to get away.

I also came back with a bag full of lemons from the lemon tree in the backyard. Nobody had been at the house in a while so the lemon tree was groaning under the weight of all the lemons.

I am lucky enough to have a lemon tree in my backyard but as I have mentioned before I gave the tree a really massive prune when I moved in 2 years ago and it's only just starting to produce fruit. I use lemons quite a bit in my cooking and B loves to just eat them as is! We have been lucky enough to get a lot from friends and I haven't had to buy too many.

So as I had a few extra lemons I decided that today would be a good chance to do something with them. With the help of the CWA I set about making Lemonade Cordial and Lemon Butter. Yum!!

I'm having trouble uploading photos at the moment so I can't show the photo I took of the finished products :-(

I am only new to preserving and making sauces, jams, etc but am really loving it. I'm looking forward to when my lemon tree is producing a lot more and making more of these goodies. You never know - you may get one as a Christmas gift! I'm also planning to give Preserved Lemons a go. If you have a good recipe I would love you to share!

Birthday Party Success - Planning Pays Off!

Well the Birthday Party has been and gone for another year. And it was a huge success!

With all the planning I did prior to the event it went quite smoothly (see previous post). Quite a bit of the food was prepared beforehand and what I had to do at the last minute was quite simple. I am very lucky to have some wonderful friends who take care of the kitchen on the day so it frees me up to organise the kids games and activities. As part of my planning I drew up a chart of which food to put on the kids and adults tables. Unfortunately there was something I forgot to put on the chart and I forgot about it during the party so it didn't get served! We then had it for dinner that night. I think it is really important and welcoming to have lots of food for everyone so I tend to go a bit overboard.

Firstly the cake. I love making and decorating B's birthday cakes myself. I definiately wing it in terms of my cake decorating skills. So if you have any experience in cake decorating don't cringe too much at my skills!! As the theme of the party was a sport party we had to go for a sport themed cake too. The cake was an orange poppyseed cake which turned out quite well considering how long I had to cook it due the to shape of the tin. B chose a soccer cake and placed all the soccer players on the cake himself. I am quite happy with how it looked:

With it being a sport party I organised lots of races and games for the kids and then an obstacle course in the backyard for them to have a freeplay. Being winter in Melbourne it was a bit stressful during the week as to how the weather would be on the day, however, there was no rain and the sun was out for most of the day. Praise God! I did warn all the parents the day before though that there was a good chance that the kids could get wet and dirty as the backyard was a bit muddy from the rain during the week. I did this so they could bring a change of clothes just in case they were needed. Unfortunately it was a bit stressful for one of the girls who got very nervous about the party. Luckily she had a great time and now says that she likes sports parties!

Here are some of the races:

Egg and spoon race. I got plastic balls and put blue tak on the spoon to keep them attached. We had done a practise run before the party and B could only get 1 or 2 steps before the ball fell off so I figured it would be a lot more fun for the kids if they didn't have to worry too much. Of course, the older kids and adults who had a race didn't get that advantage!

Relay race. I got these rods a few weeks ago in my free stuff at Spotlight (see previous post). There were enough for the kids to take one home in their party bags.

Bean bags. We used these for a balancing game where the kids had to balance the bags on different parts of their body - head, shoulder, hand, foot, etc. Then we did a bean bag toss into the hula hoops. I made the bean bags myself. I took 2 squares of fabric, overlocked 3 edges, filled with beans and overlocked the final edge. These also went home in the party bags.

For the obstacle course/free play I had these set up:

This basketball hoop was actually B's birthday present from me.

This is a toy I got from my Toy Library. They are just separate pieces which click together for a balancing beam.

These tyres were set up in a meandering course for the kids to climb over and just generally muck around on.

The hula hoops to throw the bean bags in or just play around in.

A tarp with holes cut out of it to throw balls through and climb through. Unfortunately the tape I used didn't stick very well so I ended up having to pull it off. Oops!!

Everybody having a great time!

I feel really good about being on top of the planning this year. There was quite a bit of work in the weeks leading up to the party but it was worth it for the enjoyment the B and all the other kids got out of it. I was also lucky in that B was able to help with quite a bit of the preparation so that I did not have to resort to parking him in front of the TV to get everything done!

So Glad They Were Free!

If you have read my blog before you may remember this post. I got a free pair of shoes for B which I was pretty excited about. I am now so very glad they were free.

When we got them they looked like this:

Well, 6 weeks later they look like this and are too small:

So off we went shoe shopping again. He has gone up another size so I suppose that it at least justifies a new pair. Whenever I have mentioned this to friends (or even the lady in the shop) the response is "boys". Another friend said that I didn't time the growth spurt well! I can so totally get why my dad complained about having to buy my brother new shoes every couple of months. I'll be earning lots of new pairs at this rate!!

Unfortunately, B didn't like any of the shoes in the shop except these ones:

I tried to steer him away from them towards the ones with Velcro but was unsuccessful. They were the only pair with shoelaces and I can't believe he chose them. So we now have to learn how to try shoelaces. It's a process I was hoping to avoid for a bit longer. He's quite keen on the idea though so I made this to practice on:

Wish us luck!!

Culture on a Wet Day

Well we have a real fix of culture today. The weather here in Melbourne today has been really typical winter weather.

I booked tickets ages ago to a performance by one of our favourite kid's performers Jay Laga'aia who was performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of their education week. We have seen Jay a few times either on his own or touring with Play School and he is such a marvelous entertainer. I thought it would be good to expose B to a full orchestra in an environment where the performance would be tailored to children and their short attention spans. And I must say it did not disappoint. Not only was Jay wonderful but the MSO conductor and the orchestra were really good too. They had the different sections of the orchestra in different colours so you could easily identify each section and they explained all the different instruments really well. A great introduction to classical music.

MSO and Jay

Jay and his Funky Monkey!

As we would be going into the city I thought we may as well make a day of it. We caught the train into the city which is cheap and offers lots of entertainment. Yesterday, I was racking my brain for another activity that we could do in the morning. We usually head to the playground at Birrarung Marr but as it was very cold and wet that was not an option. I then remembered that a friend mentioned the Kids Space at the National Gallery of Victoria.

I was last there about 2 years ago and was a little disappointed but today was a different story. They have really made a wonderful and free space for kids to enjoy. As they currently have a special exhibition of Napoleon's Masterpieces they have tied this theme into the Kids Space as well. There was also a section of floor that lit up with different stars and constellations when you walked over it. It did not photograph well so I can't show you - sorry. We spent over an hour in there and then discovered they were also doing kids crafts today. B did his bit really quickly but of course his crafty mum had to make sure it looked good - hehe! This is a recommended place to take the kids if you are in Melbourne.

Studying the maps with the magnifying glass

This was a magnetic wall with heads, bodies and legs that you could put together to make a person. Somehow the body got forgotten on this one!

Our crafty rosette with the Kids Space activity sheet

This was a wonderful wet Saturday with a bit of exposure to art and classical music. A win all round!!

Vision Board

I have felt the need for a Vision Board for quite a while now. It has been nagging and nagging at me but I kept thinking there were other important things to do first. The last few years I have felt that I have been "treading water" and just trying to get through each day. I real feel like I need some sort of planning, direction and goals for myself. So, I decided to put together a Vision Board.

A friend gave me a gift voucher for Christmas and I really took my time deciding what I was going to spend it on. Just before Mother's Day Kikki-k had a sale on where if you spent a certain amount you got a $25 gift voucher for June. So I decided that it would be a good time to get the board. I had to spend a small amount out of pocket as the board was more expensive than my voucher but I have also got another voucher to spend next month. More free stuff!!

The board is a work in progress as I clarify where I want to go and what I want to achieve. I'm looking forward to developing it on a regular basis. Not sure how "pretty" I want to get it as it is in my bedroom and really just for me. Thoughts anyone? At the moment I have 2 sheets one with my financial goals and one with personal goals, both long term and short term. Also, a picture of a KitchenAid which I would love to get. And Oprah's list of her book club books which I want to read my way through. I've already read about half so it's not that big a task.

Do you have a Vision Board? If so what sort of things do you have on it? I'd love to hear your suggestions and how it works for you.

More Free Stuff

Well, I must be doing something right at the moment. Today I have scored 2 lots of free stuff so I'm feeling pretty good. My friend over at Winging it Mum calls them Thrifty Thursdays and I certainly had one today.

I had to go to Spotlight today as I needed to get a some sewing supplies and pick up a few things for B's birthday party next month. They are having a special at the moment where if you spend $100 you get $40 off your purchase. By the time my things were totalled up it was over $100 so I scored my $40 off. This was all stuff I needed so I didn't buy any more things than I would have without the special. Win!

This afternoon I got a visit from Aussie Farmers doing a door knock to check if I was happy with their service. I have been getting my fruit and vegetables and other products from them for about 3 years now and I love the convenience of having it delivered to my door. I answered her questions in less than 5 minutes and at the end she gave me a $40 gift voucher for Quickflix! Another win!

So on my Thrifty Thursday I have scored $80 of free stuff and I'm must admit it's making me pretty happy.

Free Shoes!

Being a single parent on a very tight budget I try to save money wherever I can.

I have never been a member of fly buys or similar loyalty programs as I feel that I do not spend enough money at these places to make it worth my while.

I get loyalty cards from the cafes I visit regularly to get a free coffee after every 5-10 I buy. This is very handy for weeks when money is a bit tight but I can still get a coffee at one of my favourite cafes.

However, Betts Kids which is where I buy B's shoes do offer a loyalty program of a free pair of shoes after you buy 5. I took the card thinking I would not be able to redeem anything as you have to buy all the shoes within a 2 year period and since I only have 1 child I didn't think I would achieve this. I also misplaced the first card (which had 2 purchases on it) and had got another one. In my clearing out of my paperwork I found the first card so when I checked both cards I realised that I qualified for a pair of free shoes. Hooray!! The shoes were $40 and I didn't have to pay anything for them. Score!!

I would love to hear of places you know that offer reward programs that are actually achievable. Any tips on other places I may frequent would be very welcome.

Simple Entertainment

I am always on the hunt for simple cheap or free entertainment for us. Now that B is not having naps the days can get quite long when it comes to entertaining a young child so getting out and about is always a good thing.

Our garden always provides lots of fun times whether it is tending our vegies, playing sports or doing our messy play.

Parks are always entertaining and of course free. I use the Melbourne Playgrounds website to hunt out new and interesting playgrounds and to find ones with good facilities too.

However, one of the cheapest and varied forms of entertainment comes in the form of our Friends of the Zoo membership. For a fee of $69 per year we get unlimited entry to the 3 zoos in Victoria - Melbourne, Werribee and Healesville. We only need to go 4 times in the year to pay for itself. We have now gone 3 times in the last 10 days alone. We are halfway through our year's membership and I have lost count how many times we have been but it is probably around 10 so far. So well and truly got our money's worth even with another 6 months to go.

It is such an entertaining time for B with lots of things to explore and animals to see. There have been times when they are really entertaining and other times not so much. But of course as we are frequent visitors it doesn't matter too much. We can also pick and choose which animals we see and don't have to push ourselves to get round it all to get our money's worth. This was especially helpful when B was still having afternoon naps as we could just go for a couple of hours, he could run around and burn off some energy, have some lunch and then head home. This is not as important now that he is not sleeping in the afternoon but we still don't need to push ourselves and get overtired.

Here he is getting up close and personal with one of the gorillas at Werribee:

Another free entertainment is the Melbourne Museum. As I have a concession card it is another free activity and very entertaining. We haven't been there for a while but will plan another trip soon.

What about you? What are your simple, cheap or free ways of keeping kids entertained? I would love to hear from you.

The Kindness of Friends

I am very blessed with the friends I have. They have been very generous to me and B in so many ways.

I have been one of the last of my friends to have children so I was lucky enough to receive a lot of hand me downs and equipment which meant I didn't have to outlay a lot of money, particularly for the "big ticket" items. I have not had to purchase any car seats or a cot. These are normally expensive items and I was very lucky to get these for free. I also really liked the idea of getting a second hand cot that other children that I know and love had used and slept in.

I have a friend who has 3 boys and her youngest is 4 years older than B. I have been blessed to receive many of the boy's clothes which has saved me so much money on buying clothes. Especially at the rate toddlers grow and wear out clothes. We were out this morning and came home to this sitting on the front doorstep:

2 big bags of clothes!



There are a few that he isn't quite in yet but he will definitely be set up for winter (and probably next summer too). All I will need to buy is some tracksuit pants and a new pair of jeans and he will be set. What a money saver!

I have another friend who has an older son and she often gives me the clothes her son has grown out of. As they are way too big for him I pass them onto the friend who gave me the above clothes as I know I will get them back for B eventually. When B has grown out of the clothes I then pass them onto another friend who had a daughter first and son second so it helps her out of having to buy too many clothes. I love the idea of passing these along, saving people money and I love seeing the same clothes on different children.

We have also been given a lot of hand me down toys and books from numerous friends. I don't know why but they are usually the toys that he loves the most and plays with all the time. When he has finished with his toys we then pass them on to a friend who works in domestic violence to give to the children in their service who often have to leave their home without any of their toys.

As I said I have been very blessed to receive lots of wonderful things that help me save money and live simply. But I also love passing those things along to others too.

A Simple Day

Today was the Labour Day public holiday. We didn't have any plans for the day so I decided it would be a nice day to just potter around home. We also had a late night last night so I thought just nice and easy would be a way to (hopefully) avoid any toddler meltdowns.

I spent the morning doing a few odd jobs and cleaning. Then playing board games with B. It was a lovely way to just ease into the day.

The weather today was just perfect - sunny but not too warm so this afternoon we headed outside to take advantage. I mowed the lawn while B played with his play dough. I usually prefer this to be an outside activity to avoid mess inside.

I have been quite jealous lately of hearing of the resurgence of afternoon tea. Some friends have been going to some really nice places to enjoy afternoon tea. Unfortunately it's not one of the things that I can afford at the moment but I was inspired to have a "proper" afternoon tea.

So out came the PWMU cookbook, scones and tea were made and the table was set in the backyard. The scones were not a huge success as I halved the recipe but forgot to halve the milk!! They were okay but not the best I have made. We had our lovely little afternoon tea out in the sunshine. It was lovely, free (or close to) and I didn't have to dress up. Winner!!

So all in all a very simple day but a lovely one indeed. And I avoided overtired toddler meltdowns. How do you like to spend your simple days?

Health and Exercise

I have struggled with exercise over the last few years. Prior to B's arrival I was going to Curves 3-4 time a week. I was able to continue this right up till about the 30th week of my pregnancy. I was really fit and felt really good at the time. Unfortunately after his arrival I no longer had the time or money to keep it up.

I have let my fitness (or lack thereof) slide recently and have been saying to myself that it would have to wait till he goes to school and I have a bit more time to myself. One day it hit me that that will not happen for another 2 years and that is a LONG time to neglect such an important thing.

I still do not have the money to join a gym and then leave B somewhere. I purchased a Wii a couple of years ago and while he was still napping in the afternoon I would do the Wii Fit while he was asleep. As he has stopped that I haven't been able to do it. I could do it after he goes to sleep at night but I'm usually too tired then. I know, it is an excuse and I will look at breaking that and getting it out again.

In the meantime, last week I decided that I could walk. It's free and I can do it whenever it suits. So every day (except for the 2 days I work) I have got B on his bike and we have gone on a brisk 30 minute walk. The other day I walked to a nearby park which is about 15 minutes walk away so he got out and had a play then I walked home again so it was still my 30 minutes but broken up in the middle. Where I live is quite hilly so I am not only walking up hills but pushing a bike and a 16kg toddler so really feel like it leads up to a good workout. Or at least, as good as I can get at the moment.

My commitment was tested this afternoon as just as I was thinking we should go there was a huge thunderstorm rolling through. I got us out of the house quickly and walked even quicker to try and beat the rain. And beat it we did - by about 10 minutes!!

I am already feeling much better by this exercise and think it is great for both of us to get out and exercise together. I have also noticed on the days we go for our walk/ride that B goes straight to sleep at night instead of bouncing off the walls for about half an hour (or longer). Definitely motivation to keep going - hehe!!

Another area I'm working on is my diet. It is generally pretty good as I want to set a good example for B and have him enjoy healthy food. I tend not to keep unhealthy food in the house but sometimes I buy a block of chocolate as a "treat" for myself. Over January I read Peter Walsh's books. One of them is called "Does this Clutter Make my Butt Look Fat?" It really resonated with me that clutter can be tied into weight. I have been working really hard at decluttering (another post on that later). But one thing that really resonated was he said to ask yourself "does this help me live the life I want?" (I have paraphrased here) It was a bit of an a-ha moment and I realised that even though I enjoyed my "treats" in the short term in the long term they were not doing me any favours. I am not one of those people who can have chocolate in the house and just have a little. If you are I really admire your willpower but if it's there I eat it!!

So there it is - more ways for me to look after myself and I look forward to reaping the benefits of my new regime. I will keep this up - if only to get an early night!!!