Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

After a few very lean weeks for the $250 Savings Challenge, I am pleased to announce that we have made it through. I know things aren’t over yet, but we are at a place I’m comfortable with. Thanks to the 3 fortnightly pays in August, there is automatically one extra home loan payment available. My first instinct was to spend it, but instead I will leave it in the account as further backup savings. I am also anticipating my Tax Return in a week or so, which will relieve the pressure immeasurably. Put simply: things are looking up. It is pay day tomorrow, we haven’t starved, our electricity or phones haven’t been cut off, and I can see money coming in from various sources for a few weeks to come.

Back to the topic: This week I am depositing exactly $4 into the fund. I know it’s not much, but considering that’s 36% of what’s already in there, I’m impressed. This money is leftover cash that has found itself into my purse. Bringing the total to $15.35. This is slow going, but I WILL get there.

Tuesday is always fun in our house. It’s the day the girls and I get dirty in the kitchen, mixing up cakes, cookies and assorted other snacks for them and Daddy. Everything from chocolate cake to Pizza Scrolls are fair game on Tuesdays, altho emphasis is on things the kids can at least feel they’re helping with. Athough at the ages of 2.5 and nearly 4, there’s not much more than stirring they can do.

We have our favourite recipes of course, things that can be made from what we keep on hand. Cupcakes, chocolate cake, and muffins. But some of our other favourites that aren’t quite as simple, well, they’re sometimes the tastiest aren’t they?

Sultana Apple Loaf
125g butter
3/4 cup raw or castor sugar
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (I have used rice self-raising flour with excellent results)
2 eggs, beaten
1 lemon rind, finely grated
1 cup sultanas
1 cup apple juice
1 apple, gated

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease & line a loaf pan with baking paper.
2. Melt butter in a smal saucepan over meduim heat (or in the microwave) and transfer to a mixng bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix until well combined
3. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
4. Icing can be made by mixing 1 cup of icing sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon in a microwave safe bowl. Add lemn juice and stir. Heat on high in microwave for 40-50 seconds or until runny. Pour over cake and spread to cover.

We have only once added icing to this cake, and all agree that it’s not necessary. A loaf makes approximately 12 adult sized slices or 24 kid sized slices. It freezes well and is great for lunch boxes. With all that fruit in there you can almost kid yourself it’s healthy. I know it’s a sad commentry on me that this is one of the more complicated cakes we make on a regular basis, but I’m really not much of a cook, and simple is always better in my book. Hubby on the other hand…..

Cinnamon Scrolls
90g butter
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
2/3 cup of milk
Filling
60g butter at room temp
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of dried fruit

1. Rub butter into flour with fingertips until mixture resemles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add most of the milk. Mix lightly with a flat-bladed knife, to forma soft dough (add more milk if required)
2. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead lightly. Roll out into a rectangle about 25 x 40cm, and 5mm thick.
3. Prepare filling. Cream butter, sugar and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Spread over dough. Sprinkle with currants. Roll up fromt he long side. slice into 3cm pieces using a sharp knife.
4. Place rounds close together on a greased baking tray. Bake at 220c for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool
5. Ice scrolls with 1 cup icing sugar combined with 1 tbsp boiling water.

Hubby loves taking these to work, and saves him from spending money at the bakeries and cake shops nearby. Of course I’m not much chop at pastries, so he makes his own.

**Disclaimer - all measurements are Australian metric. 1 cup = 250mL and 1 tbsp is 20mL

Well after six long weeks of trying to get into, stay in or just start a routine, it seems the time has come to put all my organisation into practice. My weekly plan I devised earlier will be put into action. Now I have finalised the daycare situation, the week will go like this:

Monday: Grocery Shopping & Library storytime
Tuesday: Baking/kitchen day
Wednesday: Playground/swimming for kids (cleaning for me)
Thursday: Spend the morning with Grandma (while I study)
Friday: Daycare for kids/study for me

This is similar enough to my previous plan that I feel it will work, while allowing me flexibility. I always shop on a Monday, and we go to storytime. Tuesday is good for baking because I’ve shopped on Monday and can make snacks for the rest of the week. Wednesday used to be daycare, so an effort will be required to get us out of the house to one of the many underutilised playgrounds in the area (although some are better than others), that will hopefully afford me a few moments to read before coming home for a major cleaning session (you know, floors etc)

I have a few more things I’d like to do before the semester gets too far underway, mostly things like a study program, more work on my Home Management Binder and a cleanout of my study. I will also need to to do some serious work to make sure the Tupperware keeps happening. It’s been a few months since I’ve done anything really, so it’s almost like starting again, although amazingly I booked 5 parties in 2 days this week.

I think that’s all for today. I have quite a few bits planned for today, and I’d like to get stuck into the main bedroom. At this stage it’s really the only room that needs more than a “quick 5 minute tidy” which is driving me up the wall. Although it’s been hard at the moment with two dogs following me everywhere.

Sometimes when a crisis hits, money can be hard to find. Several people espouse the “Emergency Fund” theory (minimum $1000) and while that’s great if you’ve got that organised (see my total in the $250 savings challenge to the right) if you don’t have that it can be quite disheartening.

This week I had cause to find $800 in a hurry to pay two bills that have somehow become overdue, textbooks for uni, food and petrol for a week. It was tough, but I think I’ve managed it.

1. I assessed all the money we had access to: $300 on the home loan, $160 in assorted accounts and $15.45 in cash.
2. I did a menu plan, then a shopping list. Shopping list total $11.20. I’ll pay for that with cash.
3. I used the $300 to pay towards the biggest (and most overdue) bill, and the $160 for text books.
This left me with $260 in bills and petrol to find money for.
4. I found $140 worth of medicare claims that have now being cashed, and will go off the rest of the bills.
5. I sent out emails listing my excess Tupperware stock for 20% off RRP. Have since sold $160 worth. As I’ve paid for this stock months ago, this is all profit.
6. Contacted other Tupperware demonstrators to ask if they had any clients they couldn’t service. Got two names and a $500 order - min $100 in commission.
7. Contacted the daycare centre and arranged for a fundraising Tupperware party next week. Hopefully that will bring in a bit too.

So all up I have found (so far) $860 without leaving the house, and doing hardly any work. As well these measures I’ve put in motion should continue to bring in some money for a while yet.

So what do you do when you have to find money quickly?

And I’m still exhausted. This pregnancy is taking a lot out of me.

Ok, so we left here Thursday after lunch, and drove for 5 hours before stopping for the night. I shared a queen bed with the girls, and, let’s just say, never again. I’ve got bruises on my lower back. Friday we took our time and drove the rest of the way, stopping for lunch with cousins and aunts and uncles on the way.Quiet dinner and early to bed.

Saturday dawned early and we were off for the school reunion. I was quite nervous really, but most of the people there were in fact friends, and we had a good catch up, culminating in lunch at McDonalds (not much changes ;)). I headed back to my parents stopping for a spot of shopping and to pick up the new Harry Potter book. Yes I’m shameless.

Sunday consisted of lunch at a friends, a cake with my parents and presents (DVD’s and books). Still no time to read Harry Potter.

Monday Dad had to work, so we met for lunch at the shops, and I spent pretty much the rest of the day reading Harry Potter. Damn it was good. No spoilers here yet. I might discuss it in a month or so. Tuesday we left at 6am, and despite a 1hr delay behind a huge load (I’m talking 5 truck engines, 3 pulling and 2 pushing, 3 police escorts and 2 escort vehicles) we were home by 8pm. A long day but worth it.

Dad flew home yesterday, leaving me with unpacking, washing and cleaning to do (although hubby had made a remarkable effort while I was away). My focus at the moment is unfortunately finding the money for textbooks as uni goes back on Monday. I need to find $160. Funds are a little short this week, and while I have enough for text books, and we have enough food, there is the slight matter of two outstanding bills (one that’s 5 weeks overdue) that are causing me some concern.

A bonus this week also was the phone call I’d been waiting for from the daycare centre. “Yes, we have a place for both girls on Fridays. When would you like them to start?” I’m sure you can guess the answer.

So my aim is to organise myself a bit more over the next few weeks, and you’re all welcome on my journey. Come on. It’ll be fun

Well here I am, having driven for two days with both girls and my father, we’ve made it to his house in one piece. Wednesday and Thursday were spent madly trying to organise everyone, including hubby who needed food while we’re away as he won’t have a car, and then we left at lunch time yesterday.

We are all exhasuted but survived remarkably well. Although I think I managed about 3 hours sleep last night. I guess that means I’ll sleep better tonight.

Tomorrow is my 10 year high school reunion. I will admit to being a little nervous about seeing everyone again, especially those I lived with in the boarding house, but it will be nice to see where everyone’s up to.

Sunday I’m having lunch with my bestest uni buds and families. My birthday is Monday and Tuesday we’re driving home again. Gosh I’m even more tired just reading it.

and I passed. Ok, I more than passed. I got a distinciton - 77%. I’m stoked. I’m over the moon. I found out at midnight last night and then I couldn’t sleep. Which was…. fun. But I know I wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing I could have known my score and not known at the time.

So, as I said to a friend online last night, I now feel actually capable of doing this thing. I mean obviously I knew I was doing ok, but this is great reinforcement. So of course I’m more motivated than ever to get back to uni. I’ll be ordering my 4 textbooks this week, and am down to a week and a half before we start up again.

Of course I still have absolutely no sign of reliable daycare on the horizon. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Ok, so after yesterday’s post, I sat down and worked out my weekly plan. It will be of course subject to change depending on the day I get the girls in for daycare (at this stage it will be either Tuesday or Friday):

Monday: Grocery Shopping and Library Storytime
Tuesday: either daycare or baking day
Wednesday: Playground/swimming (cleaning for me)
Thursday: Spend the morning with Grandma
Friday: either daycare or baking day

That looks much more achievable. I have time for cleaning, 11-12 hours automatically set aside for study, and plenty of things to keep the kiddies amused. Monday morning is a big one for the kids, we’re on the go from 8:30 to 12pm, so they both will sleep/have quiet time in the afternoon.

And now that I’ve done that, I can stop and relax for the rest of the weekend. Ok, well, maybe after I get a pile of ironing done. And the shopping list for tomorrow. And clean up the kitchen. And the bathroom. yeah ok. I’m going.

In my last post on the subject, I discussed the amount of work I’m supposed to be doing each week to keep on top of my uni work. With the return to study a mere 2 weeks away I’m now at the point of tryng to schedule study into my weekly routine. Of course, I’m sure it would help if I had a weekly routine. Just at the moment it seems something like this:

Sunday: menu plan & grocery shop
Monday: washing and cleaning
Tuesday: get out of the house before I go mad
Wednesday: washing and cleaning
Thursday: get out of the house before I go mad
Friday: washing and cleaning
Saturday: ironing and cleaning.

Do we see a pattern here? Yeah, probably not good. The problem is that since we’ve got back from the UK at the end of May, I haven’t been able to get regular daycare for the girls, so am often running around doing things I used to do on my days off with kids in tow taking me twice as long. Of course with the kids growing up it’s harder to contain them in places like the supermarket.

Before I went away my weekly plan looked like this:
Monday: Grocery Shopping, Library storytime, clean out the fridge, empty the bins.
Tuesday: Baking day, Rubbish bin out, kids to playground/visit Grandma or friends
Wednesday: girls in daycare, clean bathrooms, tidy kitchen etc in the morning, to the library to study in the afternoon
Thursday: Rest day, swimming lessons/visit to the lagoon (it was summer then)
Friday:girls in daycare, repeat Wednesday

Yeah, so obvioulsy a bit more structured than now. I’d like to get back to that structure, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon while I have the kids home on a regular baisis. Or more the point, having them not-home on a non-regular basis.

Of the 16 hours I’m supposed to find each week I used to find half of them on the days the kids were at daycare. 8 hours spread over 7 days is much easier to find than over 2 hours a day.

What I did learn last semester doing a take home exam with two sick kids and dealing with morning sickness, was that I CAN study when the children are home, I just need to be creative. If I can set myself up in the dining room, I can read and be there for the kids, they can “help”, and do their own thing, while I do mine. Of course there are night times, but hubby tries to dib at least some of that time for himself.

And then there are weekends. Obviously catch up time wherever necessary. Which is always. So I guess what I’m saying is, a study routine is going to be really hard to implement until I have some sort of weekly plan happening with the kids. Might work on that today I think.