Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

or My Procrastination Tool Of Choice This Week.

I’ve talked many times about trying to get fit. I was doing really well at swimming last year when life intervened and I never did go back. With all the drama this year and moving this has definitely being low on the list of priorities.

Well now I’m down to 3 pairs of pants that fit me, something needs to be done. Now.

Some of you might remember September 2007 when I completed my first $25o savings challenge and bought myself an exercise bike? Since then I have been pregnant, breastfeeding, moving or having it stolen and held hostage by my mother-in-law.

But no more.

On Monday I pulled it out of the garage, cleared a spot for it in the rumpus room, and got on.

Yes, the rumpus room is messy. That’s why it has a door. And I still have 30 boxes that need unpacking.  But that there is my bike. I got one that I could relax in so I could read while I ride.

And I have. Monday night I rode 10km, in a smidge over 11 minutes. Tuesday I did 2 x 10km rides one in 11 minutes and one in 9 minutes.

Wednesday I did a 10km ride in the morning, and a 12km ride at night. I’m aiming to get to a 15km ride by the end of the week.

All while reading uni notes and textbooks. I am the Queen of Multi-Tasking. I tried to play the Wii on it, but even I’m not that co-ordinated. So reading it is.

So how’s that, exercise and study in one step.

I’m working on trying to get to a pool for swimming, but the times really don’t suit without major family disruptions. I’m going to have to find another pool I think.

You can pretty much guarantee my posting will become more frequent now. Why? Because in the next two months I have 3 exams and an assignment.

You, dear readers, are my distraction, my tool of procrastination.

I can sit here and type all the rants that would normally have me pacing the house waiting to explode and then return to the study. Eventually.

As usual I’m rather behind.

I guess I’m not feeling it this term. Getting into the swing of it is harder than I thought.

Combining it with Hubby at a new job, a new school, after school stuff and whenever I do find a spare second or two I’m wont to fall asleep.

Things are improving though. I am catching up, albeit slowly, and the one exam I’ve done I got 13/20. Clearly something is sinking in. Though not a lot I suppose.

I guess it’s just making myself start. Once I get going it gets easier to keep going.

A bit of peace and quiet would help though.

Now we’ve been here a few weeks, days are starting to settle into a routine.

It’s taken a while, and some false starts to get to a place that seems to be working, and I suppose the lack of internet helped with that. It’s so distracting. It calls to me. From the other end of the house….

Enough of that!

We started out walking to school. It’s less than 1km, so I figured 10-15 minutes at the most. I forgot to factor in one 4 year old and a tired 5 year old after school. As a result, a round trip can take anything up to an hour and a half.

Clearly not a frugal use of my time.

With some assistance from my parents, I discovered that if I leave of an afternoon by 10 minutes to finishing time I can park a block away and walk the last distance and be there in time to pick M&M up (the traffic and parking outside the school are ridiculous).

If I need to get a park outside the school for some reason I need to be there 1 hour before finishing time. No, that’s not a joke. With 900 kids and 40 car parks for the school, some of which are (illegally) utilized by the university accommodation in the same street which didn’t provide enough parking for residents and a cul-de-sac it was always going to be a nightmare. I went to the university around the time the school opened (12 years ago) and it was a nightmare then when the school was 100 kids. I don’t know why they thought it would get better by adding more children.

Ahem. Back on topic.

Afternoons are now chaotic with one after school activity after another, so quick pickups are imperative.

So that’s sorted.

Drop offs are another matter entirely. Being that M&M is in prep, she is really supposed to be dropped off and picked up at the classroom by someone (older sibling, parent etc). After a few performances from Kiki wanting to stay with M&M for school (she will be in prep next year) the teacher and I discussed it and decided that the mornings I have Kiki with me, I will drop M&M off at the gate, from which I can watch her to the classroom door.

These developments have freed up an enormous amount of time. I still walk one morning a week and in the afternoons when we don’t have an afterschool activity, but for the most part, my busy days just got a lot quieter.

Well, until I filled them with something else.

Hubby, bless him, has been working some long hours, which for the most part has meant I’ve been getting up earlier (although not this morning, which is a topic for another post). This has enabled me to get the majority of my cleaning done before leaving for school (since we’re leaving later). I can have two loads of washing on the line and the downstairs parts of the house clean before school, leaving me with my school hours to, well, theoretically, study.

Of course it doesn’t always work that way. I have errands which are mostly conveniently done straight after school drop off. Tuesday’s Miss Moo has swimming lessons. Etc. But when I get home, generally, I can distract whichever children are home with whatever I can find (another post there as well) and firmly plant myself at my desk until the cries of hunger are too loud to ignore. Kiki has taken to sitting at the other desk colouring while I work, and especially when Miss Moo is sleeping I can get an awful lot of work done during the day.

Around 2:30 I check the clock and panic (might have to set an alarm on my phone or something to give me a bit of a chance to get organised) and pack bags, snacks etc for whatever afternoon activity we have, then pile everyone into the car and off we go.

Afternoons/evenings are another matter entirely. Probably another post even.

It’s no wonder I fall into bed exhausted every night.

Menu Plan Monday

Sheesh, I didn’t think the year had gone that fast. Or that it had been so long since I had done a Menu Plan Monday post. But here we are.

Things are all over the place this week with school going back etc etc. And with all the after school activities starting this week I’m thinking the simpler the better.

Luckily I have spent the last few weeks filling myf reezer, and it’s now full of lots of yummy food that should make my life easier.

Monday - Pasta bake

Tuesday - Apricot Chicken (in the slow cooker since we won’t be walking in the door til 5:45 at the earliest)

Wednesday - Meat pie, mashed potato & veg (my family’s traditional “quick meal”)

Thursday - Turkey Meatloaf (I’m ashamed to say, pre-prepared from Woolworths, but it was a bargain and I couldn’t make it for the price of $5.00)

Friday - Lasagne (I’ll have a little more time on Friday, so will probably even make two lasagne’s and freeze one for another time)

Saturday - my bestie is coming so I’m going to cook up something fabulous for her and her daughter. Just don’t know what yet. Possibly a chicken curry or something.

Sunday - I’m planning a quiet day at home so I’m on the hunt for a nice lamb cutlet recipe. Maybe crumbed? I’ll let you know.

What’s on your menu plan this week? Do you have a menu plan? If not, check out my How to Menu Plan post and then head over to Orgnaizing Junkie and post your menu and see what everyone else is eating this week.

We are slowly getting settled in the new house. I seem to have exchanged my wonderful mother-in-law for a wonderful step-mother who has  so far been using her holidays to help me get sorted. Last week while babysitting for  half an hour she rearranged my pantry, finished unpacking the kitchen and cleaned downstairs.

Then she came back the next day and sorted the dining room, rumpus room, downstairs linen cupboard and cleaned the bathrooms and the laundry.

Then I told her she could have the day off but she ended up back again and did the upstairs linen cupboard.

Leaving me with the study, main bedroom and kids bedroom to sort out. I’m sure I can cope with that.

M&M has settled into her new school like it was made for her. Kiki & Miss Moo are the same at their daycare (conveniently located across the road from the school).

I’ve been told the wireless internet will be connected on Wednesday, so if that happens you’ll be hearing from me a bit more regularly.

Until then, have a safe and happy Easter and a chocolate egg for me!

My cousin asked me yesterday how I find the time to study with 3 kids and school and swimming etc etc etc.

Last night was a perfect example.

I was wondering around the house procrastinating the study, as you do, when M&M (5) spotted me and said:

“Get back to your computer!” Complete with one hand on the hip and the other pointing in the direction of the study.

“But I don’t wanna” was my increadibly mature response.

So she grabbed my hand and dragged me to my desk, where she proceeded to pull up a chair to watch me and make sure I did actually study, and not play silly card games.

Then came the kicker:

“No more Wii for you until you finish your study.”

So I poked my tounge out at her and managed to get some work done before the tables were turned when I sent her off to bed.

It really is helpful to have the support of your family, especially your kids.

…. but no, you can’t have the internet.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, no internet for Kin.

This is suburbia for heavens sake. 3 schools and a university within walking distance. 350sqm blocks of land. Thousands of people. Thousands of people apparently unable to get internet.

I kind of had an idea this might be a problem, but not the straight out “no” answer I got from….. TELSTRA!

In the end we have 3 excuses reasons so far: we have a shared line (what we have to share a phone line? what is this? a third world country?), we are too far from the exchance (except my father is further away and he has internet, as do both our neighbours) and something to do with rims which may be able to be fixed (similar problem to what we had in the last house, apparently).

So, on the off chance that only the 3rd one of those excuses reasons is actually the case, we’re pursuing that option at this stage, however that will take up to 8 weeks, so I’m not holding my breath. Our only other option, apparently, is wireless, for which Telstra want to charge me $130 a month for the priveledge of downloading 10gig a month. Considering my last plan (through someone else) was $50 a month for 50gig, I’m thinking that’s a crap deal.

There are other options, like for the same price Telstra was offering I could download 40gig and be using a local company, but I am strongly objecting to paying more than double what my neighbour is for the same service for no good reason.