Bed linen audit...

With the hot weather we've been having I have finally managed to persuade the children to give me all their blankets and quilts to wash and store.  This has prompted me to do a long overdue audit of our bed linen.

Too many mismatched sets and a lot of sheets in dire need of disposing of.  I had moved a lot of sheets into a box a while ago, and decided to go through this as well.  I found a whole pile of queen size flat sheets that we were never ever going to use so I decided to re-purpose them.  We never use a top sheet, just a quilt in the winter, or the quilt cover in the summer.

I've found that queen flat sheets (and probably double as well) are just the right size to convert to single fitted sheets.  Here's how...

1.  Measure an existing fitted sheet for a guide.  Mine was 191 cm long, 92 cm wide and 29 cm deep.

2.  Trim your queen flat sheet to a rectangle that matches your measurements (plus hems).  I trimmed off 70 cm from the width and 6 cm from the length then hemmed both edges.

3.  Mark a 29 cm square on all four corners.

4.  Match the pins to form a triangle then sew down the line.

5.  Trim off this triangle - this forms the fitted corner.

6.  Now you add your elastic - I used 35 cm of elastic stretched over 60 cm and pinned in quarters to make stretching easy.

7.  Then sew the elastic to the hem (I used a zig zag stitch) stretching as you stitch.

And - voila - a fitted sheet from a queen flat sheet.  The off cut from the side can be used to make a matching pillowcase if you choose - I already had matching ones.

One down - three to go.

A busy couple of days...

I'm making the most of the school holidays this time round.  Having just got back from a three week break with family in Queensland, I feel refreshed and enthused.

I have decluttered another one of the bookshelves - this time Miss Blondie's.

I have made three batches of soap which are currently drying in the bathroom.  I'm hoping to make a couple more next week so that we're all set for at least six months.

I have made my first ever cheese - ricotta - after having received my new soft cheeses kit in the mail today. Destined for lasagna tomorrow night if I can keep the kids fingers out of till then.

And I made up two and a half bottles of tomato sauce from this recipe.  I've been meaning to give it a go for a while, but cheap tomatoes and these three bottles from Salvos kicked me into action.

The grapes in the front are home grown ones from our vines that are ripening up fast in the heat of the last few days.  Oh so sweet and delicious.

And a lovely surprise late this afternoon.  A knock on the front door turned out to be my long lost wandering husband who decided to come home a few days early from his latest motorbike trip.  This one was round the coast of Australia, from Brisbane to Perth.  Welcome home babe.

A year for organising...

I recently decided that I need to be more organised this year.  I'm sure we've all said that before - I know I have.  But we are so busy during the school year that our current system is not working.

• We miss appointments
• We lose party invites
• We are late with bill payments

I have tried a diary, the fridge, the phone, a wall planner and numerous other ways of keeping track and I have decided that the only way is to be more disciplined.  Therefore I sat down one day late last year and designed a diary that would hopefully work for us.

It is a week per double page with the dates on one side and a section for notes and bills on the other.

When we get a bill, it immediately gets written in on the day it is due (with the amount), then again under the bills section on the opposite page.  The bill then gets placed in a cardboard pocket that I have inserted at the beginning of each month.  January's pocket is pink!  I put a pocket in because when I've tried this before every time someone picks up the diary the bills fall out, get mixed up or get lost.

Any appointments or birthday parties get written in on the day and the cards get glued on to the note section so they don't get lost.  And all regular activities get written in too.  Plus school/music/sports special dates as soon as we know about them.

It's all spiral bound with a plastic cover to make it last the year.  So far the system is working - but it will only continue to do so if the WHOLE family is disciplined about using it.

We have also decided it's time to declutter, partly because the kids are getting older, partly because we intend to move in the next year, and partly because we just have too much stuff!  I started today with FJ's bookshelf.

We've kept a lot of favourites though, as the kids still like to read them sometimes, but this pile is destined for new homes.  Hopefully I'll tackle another one tomorrow!!

Long time, no see...this last year was for me!

Hi all,

I know I haven't posted in - oh, about a year, and I can't promise that will change, but I'll do my best to keep in touch a bit more.

This last year I finally decided it was time to start looking after me.  My darling husband pushed me into it by signing me up to our local gym.  Not, he said, to lose weight but because I never take any time for me. Wow!

So I started going - only occasionally, mind you.  Then I went to the doctor who decided to do a full health check.  Mammogram - all good.  Bone density - all good except my wrists (Dad always said I had pea stick wrists!).  Cholesterol - edging towards high. Glucose - fair to middling.  Hormones - no menopause - yet. Iron - low.  Vitamin D - low.   Blood pressure - normal.  All food for thought.

Then in September, after taking a holiday in Queensland, I watched a startling documentary called, "Eat, Fast and Live Longer".  It struck a real chord and I decided to give the lifestyle change it recommended a go. Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays (500 calories), normal eating the rest of the time.

So far I have lost 5 kg that I haven't managed to shift since having FJ ten years ago.  My cholesterol has dropped back into the normal to low range.  My blood pressure has dropped to the lower range.  My aches and pains are less and I'm sleeping better.

And then I did something just for me.  I'd toyed with the idea for years, never quite getting there, not sure exactly what I wanted, afraid people would disapprove.

I love it!  And it's always there to remind me that I'm important in my life too.

More baking...

Miss 14 made some yummy orange melting moment biscuits...

Blondie and a friend made double gingerbread biscuits - tinkering with the recipe as they went, because as they said, "How can you have gingerbread cookies with no ginger in the recipe?"

And this is the remains of a batch of triple cheese scones (tasty, Parmesan and fetta) that I made to go with cup of soups for dinner.  The rest have gone in the freezer for school lunches.

And I cleaned, decluttered and did a stock-take of my pantry as well - just in time!  It turned out I was very short of everything, but couldn't see it for the the half used packets that had not been put in their boxes.

Now I know what to stock up on when it comes on sale, and I have the room to put it!

A very late birthday cake!

Back in October, my big girl turned 14.  Her birthday is very awkwardly situated in the first week back of Term 4 of the school year.  For two years running we have not managed to organise a birthday cake in her birthday week. In 2011 we did manage a cake in the actual year, but not in 2012.

Both my girls have developed a love of baking - and not through being encouraged by me, I might add!!  I'm a very slack mother who prefers to just get things done in the kitchen.  However they now just ignore me and go and do it anyway - and are getting very good at it.  Just need to work on the cleaning up side of things.

Miss 14 decided yesterday that it was high time she had a birthday cake and she had a lovely recipe she wanted to try out.  And here is the result...

Chocolate-garnished hazelnut meringue torte.

As yummy as it sounds.  The meringue was very soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  We've frozen the rest to eat as an almost ice-creamy treat.

Bit harsh having to make your own birthday cake though!!!

On my own...and loving it!

I have a whole week to myself - no kids, no husband, just the dogs.  Just how did I manage that, you ask?  I sent them to New Zealand a week early.

I made the huge sacrifice to work an extra week, and keep the dogs out of the kennel for a bit longer as well - while they took advantage of the cheaper flights before the Christmas price hike.

And, oh my goodness, am I loving it.  Sure I miss them, but I needed this down time.  It's been a full on year.  I have been working full-time at school in a Year 7 classroom with some special needs kids this year - fun, but incredibly stressful.

Plus the kid's lives are getting busier with music and sporting commitments and sometimes the only down time I get is 10 o'clock at night - and that's when I do the dishes and the laundry.

So I am cleaning house with a vengeance, reading those books that have been piling up, and writing my first blog post in six months.

Check out this photo...

My two beautiful girls having their own down time!!