challenge update

And we are off and racing. I'm crossing my fingers, toes and shoelaces that I can keep to this. Of course I can!

DAY 1  no spending!

DAY 2 $33.99 spent on groceries


I have containers of chinese greens and beetroot that have germinated. So in a few weeks they should be gracing our salad plates. I'm growing my own sprouts because they are super food and I get a huge bag every 3 or 4 days.

I'm gathering together a big colletion of my thrifty dinners recipes. We had polish Pierogi last night whih is a simple dough filled with corned beef and sauerkraut then boiled, fried and eaten, yummy! Occasionally I shall have to splash out on steak or hubby will disown me :0(

Stay thrifty.

Gotye cover

Love this cover of Gotye's 'Somebody I used to know'

Frugal challenge

Yup I'm a few days late as per usual but hey! I am here. Now the nitty gritty of it. I am going to put myself on this challenge for a month. At the moment we spend about $300 a WEEK! on groeries , so thats just got stop. I've been tossing up on a good price range for me. A range that is challenging but still obtainable.  I think half that is a good plae to start. So thats what I am aiming for $150 dollars a week to feed a family of four and pets of 3. I have deided to leave my organic produce delivery out of this because we alone pay $4.50 per kilo just to have it flown in. But I will not eat the crap that is on the shelves here. It is old and not appetising at all. So lets get spending!..... less.


Cheap snacks for kids.
Home popped poporn!
Crackers and cheese!
Pikelets!
Fruit! (well duh)
Carrot sticks and home made dip!
Home made muffins!

Some things to do to help the bill.
Grow your own greens and herbs! (so so easy)
Soure your local produce!
Join a food co-op!
Home make as much as you can (tastes better too)

I am sure these lists will grow as I go. Are you doing the frugal challenge? Good luck!

Merry Yule

It seems a little silly for me in the southern hemisphere to be celebrating yule at this time of year. But I live in a tropical zone where it is hot all year round. So in keeping with tradition Merry yule and happy winter solstice to you!

Yule is the Anglo-Saxon word for the festival of the Winter Solstice. It comes from the original 'Iul' meaning 'wheel'. In the old Almanacs, the symbol of a wheel was used to mark Yuletide. The idea behind this is that the year turns like a wheel, The Great Wheel of the Zodiac, The Wheel of Life, of which the spokes are the old ritual occasions. The winter solstice, the rebirth of the Sun, is a particularly important turning point.




The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper






So the shortest day came, and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive,

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us - Listen!!

All the long echoes sing the same delight,

This shortest day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, fest, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!!

In my garden

chilli's, basil, tomatoes(2nd round), lettue, parsley

Mangoes are ripening... yummo

mangoes waiting to ripen :-D

I think I am going to start experimenting in the soil here. Trying some species of snake beans and lettuce. Maybe if I compost enough the bateria wilt won't be an issue.

gardens in tubs

Seems vegies and such don't like the soil where I now live. We have bacterial wilt and nasty bugs in our soil hich kills just about everything. So big white tubs it is :-D

To mothers of the world

I found this beautiful poem and speaks volumes of the way I feel on mothers day. I lost my mother when I was young. My memories of her are still there and strong and full of love. I just want her to know if I can be half the mother she was then I will be happy.

Miss you mummy...

for all the mothers who miss their mothers

I often contemplate my childhood, Mom.
I am a mother now, and so I know
Hard work is mixed together with the fun;
You learned that when you raised me long ago.


I think of all the things you gave to me:
Sacrifice, devotion, love and tears,
Your heart, your mind, your energy and soul--
All these you spent on me throughout the years.


You loved me with a never-failing love
You gave me strength and sweet security,
And then you did the hardest thing of all:
You let me separate and set me free.


Every day, I try my best to be
A mother like the mom you were to me.


By Joanna Fuchs