FOOD!!

I love food so much!! I'm always hungry it seems but even while I'm eating I'm thinking about the next meal and what I'm going to eat then...
For our anniversary meal at Nicola's B. ordered a half dozen oysters kilpatrick which are his favourite... I chose fried mozzarella balls that came with a spicy tomato sauce. There was not anything vegetarian at all on the entree menu save for bruschetta which I am not keen on as it often makes me feel a bit sick.. the balls had a small piece of prosciutto in each one...it was quite nice but I felt they had not been freshly fried.. they seemed to be heated up...but neverthless I always enjoy my food..
For the main they had a special of more or less a duck ravioli( although it was called capriletto or something else..) that was prepared with an oil based sauce and had enoki and oakear mushrooms. B. thought he would try this for something different. It was quite unusual with the funny oakear mushroom which were sort of like crunchy seaweed but without a sea taste!! Quite good! But no discernable taste of duck, I didn't think.. ( I tried on of his "dumplings'). B. had perfectly steamed veges with his main meal while I chose a green salad which I think I should have got for my entree.. that was really fresh and crunchy!! For my main meal I had field mushroom and spinach ravioli with creamy saffron sauce... there were three huge ravioli on my plate.. the pasta itself was quite thick although it was very tasty, I reckon I could have rolled it thinner... but I enjoyed it.. very VERY filling.. boy I was ready to burst after all this!!! We shared a yummy bottle of Taylor's wine and for dessert we shared a tuille basket with three scoops of gelato and berry coulis and we had a long black each as well..
I really like Nicola's.. the service is just excellent there and the prices are really reasonable for very good meals... I nearly wanted to order the potato gnocchi with the gorgonzola sauce that I really love there but I thought I should order something else for a change... I wasn't sorry, but I have to say, I really think that gnocchi is the BEST!!! I will order it again next time!!!

Special Day

It's B.'s and my 24th wedding anniversary today!! Can't believe all those years have gone by!! It's hard to imagine that we've been together for so long!! There have been some very hard times but overall, we have had a wonderful wonderful marriage... I'm terrible lucky!!
Tonight we are going to a nice restaurant(Nicola's) for dinner...just the two of us.. I mention this cos the last two anniversaries I think our son was with us!!! Not that it mattered of course!!) We WERE going to the movies as well but then we thought we'd probably have to rush though our meal or go to a late session and being a Monday night, we don't want to be too late out...

Yummy Dahl

I made some delicious dahl this morning and I can't stop eating it!! I had a couple of cooked potatoes in the fridge and you know how I don't like the taste of leftover potato, but I didn't want to waste them so I needed to make something with strong flavours to cover the precooked potato taste( tastes like the fridge or something.....), the texture also changes for the worst after you've kept them for a day or two.. as well I had a small bunch of fresh coriander that I often buy and don't use all up (ironically, to try and make it last...) and then it goes bad... so I made dahl with red lentils and the potatoes and put all the coriander on top when it was cooked... yum, dahl! Made with red lentils it takes so very little time to cook..I was eating some 20 mins later!!! The lentils were still a bit firm then but a little bit more cooking and they were perfectly "creamy" and soupy.. oh gosh!! Soo GOOD!! and soo cheap!! The pot I made could feed a whole family for a couple of dollars!! I called B. in and we ate it with warmed tortillas for a kind of early " lunch". Then I took my dogs out for a walk..since I came back I have been getting it out of the fridge and eating more of it...it's healthy too and best of all VEGAN!!!!

Friday

I love Fridays and Mondays especially!! And they're not even my days off!!! I love Fridays cos they have that special weekend feeling, a party atmosphere!!! And I love Mondays cos they're the start of a brand new unsullied week and everything can start over again if needs be!!!
Even if it's my turn to work on the weekend I still like Fridays.. I have the morning shift which means I'm home by 1pm!! And B. also finishes early on Fridays.. he's home by 3pm usually, unless he goes to the shops or something which he does sometimes to buy beer or hardware of some kind...
I'm not having my grandgirls this weekend. I would like to but B. needs to have a weekend here and there where he just relaxes and does his own thing. Maybe we'll visit them and take them to the caves or something but they won't be coming here to sleep over this weekend.. NEXT weekend though, is my daughter's wedding day!!! The wedding is on Saturday and after that I'll have the little girls over for a couple of days.. it's the start of the school holidays so I can have them on my days off, not just the weekend, which I wouldn't be anyway as the wedding is then...

I mentioned my car going in for a service, well, a pleasant surprise.. it was only $270 B.said... so it didn't break the bank!! This week I 'll have to go to town and see if I can find a dress for Olivia.. I'll do that Tuesday...when I find hers then I can buy Jasmine's.. there's a few choices for Jasmine and I'll get the one that most closely complements what I find for Olivia..

The weather is just gorgeous here at the moment... fine and cold... looking forward to a nice relaxing and recharging time this weekend!!!

Soup

It's soup weather all right!! Very cold(for here!!) and B. loves soup. I personally feel as though I'm slumming it big time, haha, to eat it for a MEAL.. but the other day I made an awesome soup that even I enjoyed... I'd bought a packet of barley with the thought of making a "vegeloaf".. I read once that barley has the good chewy texture that makes it a good ingredient for an "unmeatloaf"... well, I made a soup instead.. it did have a lamb bone in it from the roast I made on Sunday... but it was full of barley, veges and we ate it for dinner with a homemade spinach quiche I made the same day which was also very yum!!
There was enough soup left for our lunches and then B.came home and asked if there was any more soup left for tea... aw, I had to say "no!!"
So I made some more today and there was a hambone in the freezer I had to use up...the soup today was a bit different as I didn't have any turnip or swede left but I had some dried 4 bean mix as well as the barley to use today and well, it wasn't half bad!!! I ate two bowls before work and it really sustained me I think... then we ate it with a toasted cheese sandwich for dinner tonight( yeah, I still felt like I was slumming it a bit.. but that's OK a couple of nights a week!!! ehehehheheeh!) I put some on the dogs' dinner as well... nice warm food for a chilly night for them....and still a huge pot left!!! But B. seems pleased.. he said he's going to eat it all weekend..... (I say... blech!!!) ehehehehheheh!

Blowout!

Whoa! Big week for spending. We finally got our passport applications in and they were over $200 each. That doesn't include the photos and because of various things(rrggh!) I had to get two lots done and B. had to get THREE!! So there went $50 just to get the photos right!!! My car went in for a service today ... haven't picked it up yet so don't know what that will be, but the last one was over $200. I bought some products from a friend who sells "Arbonne"..... I like to support people who are trying to help themselves...I bought quite a lot the first time and this time I bought less but nevertheless $280 worth.. can't even remember now what I ordered.. I know I ordered 2 foundations( I go through them quite quickly since I use it most days..), a shea butter hand and body duo, 2 lipsticks and a lipgloss... what else I'm not sure.... oh, a powder and some lipbrushes... anyway, will be a surprise when I open the package...
I finally put my mum's engagement ring that she gave me years ago, in to a jeweller get fixed.. the setting has become damaged and I was advised not to wear it until I got it remedied (at risk of losing the diamond)...it has been a shame not to be able to wear the ring all these years but I never seem to have the money spare to get it done...well, tidying out my drawers and cupboards I came across it again and well, I guess it's now or never.. anyway I paid for it and it was about $260(?) I can't recall right this minute.. I can check it later...
We got our first electricity bill also yesterday since installing our 7 solar panels. It is over $500 BUT that is for 11 months!!!!!! So they really have saved us over the time we have had them. One of my normal winter bills would be approximately $280 for a 60 day period, so you can see that $500 odd dollars for almost a year's worth of power is definitely cheap!!!
Ho hum.. all this meant that I am not doing much groceries this week.... going to do "pantry challenge" as far as possible and for as long as possible. I did have to go and get more dog food yesterday and a few other things.... but I think I've got quite a bit of food in the cupboards and also in the freezer so hopefully I will not have to go and do more food shopping till end of next week....

June "To Do" List

I am so far behind on my goals for June it is not funny. I had not posted them on this blog.. I wrote them in my journal:
Here is the list:(Dang! It's been that long since I wrote in there I couldn't even find it for a minute then....)
1. Plant 4 food plants in the month... have planted 3

2.Find and cook 4 new vegan recipes in the month... have cooked none yet!!

3. Do 2 big walks round Bunbury... have done none!

4.Meet Sheralyn for lunch.. long overdue.. have not arranged this yet

5.See at least one production this month.... have not seen anything or booked yet.

6.Complete passport applications... YAY! Have done this!!!

7.Go the soap factory in Dunsborough..... er , no..

8.See one movie by myself.... no....

9.Go to the Blood Bank to donate... no, nida, non....

10. Eat at the Japanese on Spencer St..... no...

11.Go to Perth and eat at "Lotus" vegetarian restaurant... hahhahahhahha!

12.Make room for Buddhist books somewhere... YAY! I have found a suitable place to store them!

13.Spend a small part of each day reading and contemplating some Dharma...I do contemplate a LOT.. but haven't read much..

14.Paint cane setting with a coat of fresh white paint... nuh!

15. Facebook less... YAY! I have achieved this!!!

Weary!

Feeling really tired today after a BIG weekend! Friday night we went to a 21st birthday party. We went to eat Chinese dinner first..it wasn't vegetarian, unfortunately.. I would have liked to order the vegetarian special bean curd and also the vegetarian sang choi bow but I could tell B. did not want to get those... he chose chilli basil chicken and I ordered a vegetable omelette but they brought out a combination one(?) mustn't have heard me properly.. oh well.... We shared a bottle of red wine there but after that I did not drink any more.. only had soda water and some still water.. we left about 11.30pm as I wanted to be fresh on Saturday to pick up Olivia and Jasmine.
We were able to get Jasmine's passport photos all right on Saturday. Jon and Rachel had been having trouble getting her to look straight at the camera and also to not bring her hand up to her face and in the end not to start crying!!! Poor thing!!! She probably couldn't understand what was going on!! The girl who was taking the photos took quite a few that weren't right but finally just before Jasmine started getting upset she got one that looks OK. Her little teeth are showing a bit but she said they usually don't mind that for small children...everyone else of course cannot have their teeth showing( why is this anyway??????)
Also went to see if we could get some dresses for them and disappointingly Olivia is too big for size 7 which was the biggest size they had... I'm going to try elsewhere this week.. I can get one for Jasmine but I'll wait to see what kind of dress I can find for Ollie first..I did buy two fairy dresses "in case" but I ended up giving them to the girls to take home.. Olivia had a dressup birthday party to go to on Wednesday and well, I really wanted some better dresses than those for the wedding day...I'm sure I will find something..Target might have some... or maybe I can try a bridal store, though that will probably be very expensive...
The rest of the weekend was spent going to parks and to the beach and letting them bake cookies etc and then Sunday, I cooked a roast dinner and Jon and Rachel came up to eat with us and our neighbours/cousins from over the road also joined us for tea.. my son also came to stay on Saturday for a couple of days so it was all very social and busy!! My roast dinner was not vegetarian either :(
I had bought a side of lamb at shopping so B. could have meat for BBQ and also a leg for sandwich meat.. but it wasn't very big... ( such a young sheep.. ohhh... terrible!!) and got eaten all up in the one meal by everyone, as well I had to make a stew as the roast leg would not have been enough!!! So no meat left for sandwiches either!!! I got quite tipsy drinking plenty of red wine before and over dinner and remember making quite a lot of ribald comments and jokes!!! Everyone was in a good humour and the evening was a lot of fun!!! :)

This Week's Waste

Or LACK thereof!! Yay for me! I have wasted the least food ever I think! The only thing I threw out today was some cooked rice which I forgot to put away last night and so it was left out...cooked rice gets bacteria that can cause tummy upset etc if not refrigerated, so I thought I better ditch it.. but even so it did not have to go into the bin!! I mixed it with a little raw mince meat and gave it to the birds and they loved it! I have given them rice before but strangely(I thought!) they did not seem too keen. I mentioned it on Facebook and a friend said they will eat it if it is mixed with mince. I was lucky to just have a little bit of mince in the fridge, left from the weekend when I made some spaghetti...
I have been doing well at eating vegetarian although still not completely. I had to finish off a couple of chicken wings yesterday. Otherwise doing pretty good! I have cooked some meat for B. A small corned beef for his sandwiches and he had some with his dinner while it was still hot...I didn't have any.. this is a big step forward for me as if I have to cook it, it's very difficult for me to resist... But otherwise he has been eating vege food with me.... I made an awesome goulash with some of the seitan I made last week... it turned out really well! I NEED to cook and have food like this on hand so I am not tempted by what may be in the fridge or freezer that is NOT vegetarian, which there will be from time to time as B. still likes some meat... B. even liked this goulash, so much so that he took some for his lunch today as well. I bought some King Island Soy Cream Cheese the other day hoping it might make a good substitute for the Tofutti Sour"Cream" which I can't find anymore and while I haven't tried to thin it with lemon juice to see if it will be good as sour"cream" I did stir some into the goulash and it worked a treat! So at least it can be used in cooking.. that's something!!!

Regular Running

My running is usually very sporadic.. since my youth I haven't made a regular running schedule.. things get in the way.. I run for a couple of days and then let it go by the board again... recently, I have been running more regularly than I have for a long time!!! It feels great!!
Yesterday I ran a course around town that I feel could be my regular running route and I found that I'm a pretty good judge of distance! I felt it was about 8 km and after my run I drove it, arriving home just as the trip meter clicked onto 8km exactly!!! Of course my steps don't follow the exact path of a car but to make up for any occasions where I might have cut the corner etc, I made sure I took the longest path round things and also ran up and down the steps at the golf course lake a few times... in any case, the run is approx 8km and that is a good distance for me to do most days. I hope to, for variety's sake go to Bunbury once a week to do a run along the coastal road or perhaps park at Australind and run into Bunbury( and back??) When I am able to do that I will be really pleased....
The other night I must have run at least 10km as I ran my 8km route PLUS all around the golf course which would have added about 2km ...the interesting thing is.. I feel this has all been helped along by my "new" habit of blogging and list making etc... keeping written track of my activities in all sorts of areas is definitely making things happen.. much more than when I just think about them.. from my finances to trying to maintain a vegetarian diet now to running...writing about what I hope to achieve, whether it's on here or in my journal, really works to help it become reality!

Sigh! Seitan!

I was going to go into town to day to do one of the two big walks around Bunbury I have on my "To Do In June" list.... but I changed my plans so I could have a go at making "seitan". I have made it a few times and most of the time it's about the same.... it's not bad but once I went to a Chinese temple in Melbourne and they just had the most wonderful dishes there all made of seitan of course, but they must have the "knack" or some secret.. mine isn't anywhere as nice...
Today after simmering it in the broth I baked it and it looked and smelled all right... I turned the oven off and went out for a walk.. I think if I'd taken it out of the oven before I went, it would have been better... it seems a bit rubbery and overly firm today. But it was still OK!! I fried some slices and then made the sauce I like to serve with steak... creamy mushroom and garlic... gee, I wish I could get the Tofutti Sour Cream again.... I have seen the cream "cheese" maybe I could try using that and diluting it with white wine and water.. then the sauce could be vegan... I ate my " steaks" with two of the leftover Yorkshire puddings which did have egg in them.... must get a box of the egg replacer again.. I have used that and you wouldn't even know the difference.. I just ran out of it recently. Overall, I am quite pleased with the results today but as I say cooking it less would have made it less chewy. There was enough so I could slice and freeze some..that might help me when I have a meat craving if there's already some seitan made as it takes a little time to prepare...... I quite like it... don't know if B. be will very keen...I'm going to test drive some on him tonight... I sliced some very thinly and it's in the fridge in a marinade of ginger, garlic salt(ran out of garlic).. chou hou paste, XO sauce and sesame oil with a bit of soy and a bit of sugar... also in with them some sliced onion and red capsicum...oh and I ran out of sherry AND Chinese wine so I put a little bit of brandy... see how it goes tonight when I stirfry it with some vegetables and serve with steamed rice! Maybe I'll put a few cashews as well!!

Lots of Food

There is lots of food to use up over the next few days...first I have a bowl of pasta .. I cooked a big lot of pasta to make macaroni cheese and there was too much !! I still have to eat the remaining mac cheese as well... I think I will freeze this cooked pasta and even if it doesn't freeze too well I can make soup with it later on..
There are 4 Yorkshire puds left.. that one's easy, will eat them tonight with the one steak there is left in the meat keeper. It is a T-bone.... I might cut the larger portion from it and give it to B. he doesn't care for this cut... while I eat the bit remaining on the bone.... that's plenty, we don't eat that much meat if I can help it.. will just cook some veges and make some gravy..
There is one portion of pie left from last night. My friend had a lot of spaghetti over but I still left some pie there and brought home my dish that had about two portions left.. ate one just before for breakfast and the remaining one I will eat tomorrow.. or even later on today...
There is a portion of mashed potato.. I will give it to the birds or the dogs in their dinner.. think it's a bit stale..
There is some white sauce.. made too much of that also when cooking the mac cheese. I will put it with the leftover mac cheese.. it has absorbed some of the sauce and become quite thick so the extra sauce won't go astray...
There is a tiny bit of roast beef and that will make one more day of sandwiches for B.
There is some chocolate pudding from Sunday night.... will try and eat a good portion each this evening and the rest, if any can go to the birds.. I only made a small one so we should be able to finish it..
I had a bit of yorkshire pudding mixture left also from Sunday.. I will make a pancake for lunch for myself with this..
There is half a tin of sardines that B. opened on Saturday... this is too stale and I will mix it with the dogs' dinner....
I opened a packet of puff pastry to line the pie dish with yesterday.. I often do this and end up wasting the rest of the packet!!! But I will make a point of using it to make some snacks for Saturday evening with this!!
There are plenty of veges left in the crisper and they are all still good!! That's it for my food utilisation post!!

Why Not?

Why not indeed??? It's amazing how if you really try and work on your mind, how you can start to see things really differently and also have a change of "heart".....
I'm talking about my family's move overseas which looking back over my blog and my journal had me quite upset and sad not very long ago..
I've been trying really hard to understand why they would want to move and how things look like from their point of view... my son helped a lot by talking it over with me and hearing all my fears and doubts..anyway, I feel quite OK about it now, even a bit excited for them.
My daughter and her partner are both very very talented and why should they not go where they feel they could really have a chance to reach for the stars in their chosen field?? I have put a lot of effort into opening my mind to thinking correctly and not getting carried away with nonsense thoughts!!! One of the "exercises" I found helpful was doing a bit of "role reversal" as a strategy for understanding their wishes to move and try to expand and develop their business. I imagined what my daughter might feel about me and my chosen path in life and what she might say about it if I did not give them my full encouragement and support. I can't really support them financially .. but I can always be enthusiastic and excited for their prospects. And not be negative and focus on possible problems that might arise.. I realised that I can demonstrate my faith in their abilities and not be scornful of the choices they make, knowing that everyone has their own goals and dreams that are right for them...anyway, I am constantly amazed at the ability of the mind to change if you give it a go!! Having conquered many negative frames of mind over the years,I feel confident that even though there are lots more things in life for me to learn but that I will be able to do it!!

Time Flies!!!

Whoosh! Where does all the time go??????? Only last week I was gloating to my workmate Sam about the five day weekend I was looking forward to this week and already it's nearly at an end!!! Only have tomorrow left!!! Today just went in a blur especially!! I don't mean a blur in that I was foggy-minded... I mean the blur caused by things moving very fast!!! ehehehhehehehe!
I spent a good part of the morning doing a "Responsible Service of Alcohol" on-line course.. that's what made the day seem like it went very fast...we all had to do it for work. Well, it was very tedious I have to say.. forced you to have to sit through audio sessions instead of being able to just read the material and fly through... well, at least it is done and to tell the truth it made me think a little about the dangers of drinking too much alcohol again.. ( I do think about it from time to time.. but I still drink too much too often...in regards to health..).
It is such awesome weather today! Very sunny and the wind is cold but it's just my ideal kind of day! My son and I went for lunch at the Dome in Bunbury. We shared a calamari, chips and salad and also a taste plate that had chicken strips, salt and pepper squid and meatballs with three kinds of dipping sauce and a Coke each. The Dome is very reasonably priced.. and the food is really quite nice....they have a good pizza there but I had that last time when I went to the Hall's Head one with my mum and Roy.
I've got a kind of pie in the oven at the moment. Going out to a friend's place for tea ( the same friend we went to recently where I took a potato bake and a crusty loaf....and I told her I'd bring something. It is like a shepherd's pie with puff pastry on the bottom, filled with curried sausages and topped with mashed potato... I made a double batch of the best curried sausages I think I've ever made yesterday with most of that big packet of sausages I bought last Thursday. I think she said she's cooking steak but whatever she makes we can all have some of my pie as well.. B. I know will love it.. he didn't eat any of the curried sausages yesterday, only my son and I did. B. had already had some lunch before the sausages were ready...he was hungry "prematurely" for tea though, as a consequence and so I had to put the roast beef I spoke about on earlyish.. lucky though, by the time it was cooked it was about 6.30pm and I asked them if they wanted some pudding for dessert and they said yes! So it wasn't too late to whip up a chocolate self-saucing pudding and put that it and we still all got to bed nice and early for a Sunday night(after I cleaned up and all!).

A-MAZING!

Took the two grandgirls to the Mythic Mazes in Nannup on Saturday. They weren't what I was really expecting but it still was a pretty good outing! I thought it would be a much bigger place and also I imagined the hedges to be quite thick but they were quite "see through"... nevertheless once you started going around they were a lot more complex than they looked at first... we were laughing somewhat when we first started off...you go through an archway into a garden of "sculptures".. well, it was pretty much like someone's backyard with a few garden ornaments and cut outs!!! A bit funny but the girls enjoyed it and sat on the big throne they had in the garden, also we had a game of oversized noughts and crosses that was there.. there were actually a few nice carvings of "beings" around the place.. it was really quite nice... just a bit more "homey" than I had thought...cost $10 each adult and $8 each for the girls... I thought it was quite worth it.... anyway we spent an hour there easily, maybe a little over... after that we went into Nannup and got a bit of lunch, just pies and stuff...we were very lucky with the weather... it was quite a nice sunny day ... it would be very hot to trek around the mazes in the summer......
After lunch we made our way back to Margaret River and enjoyed a fun afternoon with my daughter and her partner and for tea they made the most awesome pizzas, plus there was some delicious curry from "The Larder". The girls had a lot of fun dancing around as Jon was playing lots of different music for us..... we were laughing that much trying to decide on a song for the wedding day.... some funny ones you could have that would make everyone think " What the hell??" ( Devil Inside(INXS)... Rockin Robin(Michael Jackson....Way Down(Elvis)...ridiculous!! Of course we will not be having any of those but it was funny to imagine Rachel walking out to some crazy tune!!!!!) One really nice thing was dancing with each of the girls to music like Cat Stevens' Moon Shadow and Morning has Broken....... songs from so long ago but you could see that little Jasmine especially was enjoying them.....

Not So Awesome Shopping Day

Today I went to work for a short time... 7-9am...I am going to be doing this every Thursday and then go back at 3pm for my regular shift...it was bright and busy and the time went very quickly. I was all dressed and had my handbag,shopping bags etc with me to go straight to town and do my shopping quickly! I wanted to go to Big W also to see if I could get one of those "egg carton" foam underlays (that I already have on my bed...... sooo comfy)..... to put on the spare bed which is a little bit soft but I'm hoping with the underlay it will feel better to sleep on....

Well, I haven't been to Big W for a long time and some things caught my attention... DVDs... I saw the Michael Jackson "This Is It" one that I do want.. and put it in my trolley, also a Dora one for Jasmine... then I remembered I do want an extra hot water bottle for when guests come... went to look for those and saw headbands... looked and looked at those for quite a while trying to decide if I liked any of them... I didn't....but I wear them a LOT, why don't they make more kinds???? All of them were black or grey or for kids or too thin... I like them a bit wider.. oh, they had tortoiseshell too, but I got one of those recently... then I wanted to get the girls some more textas which I put into my trolley but there were so many nice things for children, activity sets and stickers and craft sets... that kept me looking for a while again... I didn't buy any... I got them a couple of books last week and they haven't seen them yet...then I saw the book section and wanted very much to buy another Jamie Oliver cookbook.. very nearly did but thought no, I will ask for one for my birthday( which is not too far away...). After all that I went and put the DVDs back....can't really afford them this week... and after all that, I couldn't find any hot water bottles either!!!

Finally I arrived at the manchester section and yay! they had the eggcarton thingies... two brands... I bought the cheaper one( $10 less) it was $59 as it was.... then I saw mink blankets... oh, they are my weakness! I love them! I had been wanting to get a new one for our bed as since I bought those fuschia curtains, none of my existing bed linen really matches... not that that sort of thing really bothers me very much and I did have a quilt cover with pinkish tones that has been sufficing... but there was a nice deep crimson blanket today with some kind of spots on it... would be PERFECT I thought and also allow me to take the quilt cover off and wash it today... so I got it... was $49.95... not really in my budget this week but it's hard to find this kind of blanket at times in nice designs..... anyway, it looks really nice and what I like about it, it's big enough to cover the whole bed and pillows which the quilt cover was not quite achieving!!! I put the new underlay on our bed, it hasn't got a eggcarton structure, more like ridges... hope it as as comfy, it should be OK!!!

I found shopping a bit disappointing today grocery wise. I wanted to go to Woolies instead of Coles where I usually shop as Woolies has a very large container of plain brand fish food that is quite cheap....also dog treats are cheaper there, they have a brand Coles does not which is significantly cheaper than any I can get there... Also I find their range of icy poles and individual icecreams always have some on special, unlike Coles, and I want some for the girls this weekend.

But everything else seemed a bit expensive today. Again I bought MEAT. I can see this is not going to stop for me while I am living with someone to whom vegetarianism is not THE goal..... I need some cold meat for B.'s sandwiches and so I got a roast beef which seemed the most economical option available today....will roast it on the weekend, have a meal of it, and then the leftovers can be sandwiches for a day or two. I'm going to cut it I think, into two and if there's not so much cooked meat it will help me just stick to the veges...(I'll be trying to "save" the meat for B.). Also I got a big packet of sausages which were VERY cheap......B. LOVES as I have mentioned before and the other thing I got was a packet of three T-bones for the unexpected BBQ should it occur. Still got the meat I bought last shopping trip... only used the sausages and still have 5 left, which I'm going to crumb tonight for B.'s lunch tomorrow.... the chicken breasts and the lamb 4quarter chops still intact in the freezer. As well still got 3 ribeyes.. I cooked one for B. last week..... I MAY be having a few people next Saturday for hot dishes... if I do all that stored food will come in handy... won't need to buy so much next shopping....But talking of COSTS, lamb legs have REALLY gone up lately...even stewing steak is expensive and beef roasts or steak, wow!!! I saw a whole rump which I was thinking might be good to buy... cut some for roast and the rest put by.... was $98!!!!! HOLY MOLY!!! One thing that pleases me about this though, is that the cost of meat SHOULD reflect the COST - of meat... (the price of life, the cruelty, the environmental effect etc etc). maybe one day when meat gets so expensive people can't afford it, then may we move more towards vegetarian culture....(probably though that's when conditions and treatment of animals will get WORSE...... sigh....).

Well, I got what I needed mostly after spending quite a long time in the supermarket examining everything closely.... ehehehehhehehe! Some things I wanted though, I had to leave for another day... have to make do without.. nothing special just things like juice, more frozen veges, potato gems...I have other things that will do without having to get these extra items....

Catch Up Post!!!

Ooh! Had a little break from posts.. now for a quick catch up!!

I just had two bowls of delicious soup for my breakfast.. made it first thing this morning, after I made B.'s sandwiches and before doing last night's dishes!!! Eheheheheh! The soup I made is a famly recipe... it is a tomato, pasta based soup and you add in a tin of baked beans and lots of cabbage..we always made it with a ham hock... but I thought I could use some sliced cabana(yes.. still finding things in the freezer.. this sausage was frozen from a party where I had it ready and sliced to serve but didn't need to put it out....always have soo much food...) anyway, it is quite yummy and I have made a vegetarian version of it many times.. still I want to use up the cabana..

Nil food waste this week!!! BIG pat on the back to me!!! This writing about food and stuff is a really great tool as is demonstrated by the ever reducing level of food I have chucked out each week!! I highly recommend it!!

Beautiful sunny day today again.. yesterday in the afternoon(I waited till then so it'd be nice and warm!!) I took the dogs to the beach. Only had shorts and a singlet on and felt even a little hot walking along!! Had a fairly decent walk and I don't know if Honey ate something bad or not(I didn't see her..) but she vomited about 5 times during the night...ugh! First one was very small and easy to clean up. I put her in the bathroom after that in case she did some more and I was glad I did! They just got bigger and more er.... chunky.. Lots of bedding to hose off and wash today... but at least it wasn't in our bedroom!!!

I am in the happy position of being totally up-to-date with the bills. Last month or so been struggling to maintain funds in the bank and I still had a pile of outstanding bills to pay..... I've caught up now, NOT without effort, of which I'm very proud and although a mobile bill came on Monday, ( JUST after I cleared all the existing bills!!) it's not due for two weeks and the main bill(big one!) is finished with. I must mention what the bill was... I have an account where I work...if need anything I usually just put it on there. The bill comes every fortnight but most people, including me don't pay it every fortnight religiously....HOW quick does time fly and the fortnights add up??????? I had about $600 total owing!!! I paid a bit off and then the balance of $400 something on Monday. For about a month now I have only been paying CASH and this is my strategy so I DON'T have this bill to find money to pay for when I haven't budgeted for it!!! I probably will still have a bill from time to time as when my son visits I let him fill up his car on his way out of town and he puts it on my account.... but I will pay this straight away in future...I could give him some cash and get him to pay for the fuel but I already help him with a regular amount each week so he can just put the fuel he needs on the account...if it's not $50 worth I "save" and that little "extra" can get "snowflaked".