I’m really going to try and not make this blog post a rant, but no promises.

Why is it that I never feel as busy as we are during the school holidays?  We wait ten weeks for a break from running around here and there for kindergarten, swimming, dancing and everything else.  Finally that break comes and the question on everyone’s lips is “What are you doing for the holidays?”

The next thing you know, you’re going somewhere meeting someone every day for the next sixteen days.  Busier during the break than than you were the last ten weeks!

The zoo(s), the museum, the aquarium, the shops, a haircut, a day at grandma’s, a concert, free cupcake decorating, meet daddy for lunch, see friends we don’t go to kinder with anymore, see mama’s friends we can’t usually see during the term, ah and chuck in a few more days at grandma’s *ahem*.

There are ads on TV, in magazines, in the local paper, at the library (oh, got to plan a trip there as well apparently), in emails (forgot about going to the cinema and bowling).

Where did this come from?  What about doing NOTHING during the holidays?  Nothing like playing in the backyard?  Watching some TV?  A trip or two to grandma’s not to be denied, of course…

The only thing I can think of is that it comes from school… “What did you do during the holidays?” and when they’re a bit older “Write a paragraph about what you did during the holidays?”

I think I’m ranting.  In any case, I’ll still fill up these holidays, and probably the next lot as well in another eleven odd weeks, but geez it’s busy!

I’ll leave you with a photo of doing nothing in the backyard

This boy ::

drew this picture ::

And he called it “My Mum”

Which made my day

Seriously, after a week with a menu plan and then a week without, I daresay a menu plan is the anchor to my week.  I think we really suffered last week without a plan, and I felt so adrift.  So, with that in mind, as the the boys watch Steve Irwin’s “Collision Course” I’m off to inventory the pantry and fridge and do up a plan for the week.  Stay tuned…

Whoa nellie!  Another one to add to the meal list because everyone enjoyed it.

8 thick pork sausages, pricked (I used 8 thin beef sausages as they were what I could find)

1 Tbsp oil

1 onion, chopped (I used a Spanish onion as I find them sweeter)

420g can baked beans in barbecue sauce (we buy and used plain no added salt)

400g can diced tomatoes

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp chilli sauce (didn’t put this in)

1 Tbsp chopped parsley, thick toast, to serve

1. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on high.  Cook sausages, turning, for 10-12 minutes until well browned and cooked through.  Cut them into chunks and transfer onto a plate.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan (er, I used the same pan as above because it has deep sides and who wants more dishes??) on high.  Saute onion for 1-2 minutes, until tender.  Stir in baked beans and tomatoes.  Bring to the boil, stirring.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
3. Blend in maple syrup and sauces (since my baked beans were non-barbecue and as I didn’t use chilli sauce, I stirred through 2 Tbsp HP Sauce for a bit of flavour).  Reduce heat to low and add back the sausages.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Season to taste.  Serve topped with parsley, with toast on the side.

I also served  green beans as it was all looking a bit too tan/red/brown for my liking and everyone liked everything.  Quite impressed with this new book.

In other news, I became a bit of a Do-It-Yourself plumber today.  At some stage overnight our bathroom vanity decided it wasn’t going to drain properly and this morning after brushing my teeth and rinsing out my toothbrush, the sink filled up.  The plunger was sitting beside the vanity after Alex’s previous attempt at clearing the blockage, so I picked it up and had a go.  Let me tell you this:  I did not get the sink unblocked and the water flowing down the drain freely until almost 5 or 6pm tonight (evenings are generally a blur around here; who knows what the time was!).  It took a lot of trial and error and a bit of thinking outside the square.  I noticed our bathroom sink drains out after passing the bath drain to go into the main pipe, so ended up taking the plunger to the bath.  After a few goes of the bath, then some bicarb, vinegar and boiling water down the vanity, a big BURP by the sink and ahhhh… a free flowing drain.

Meanwhile, while M was at kinder and G fell asleep in the car on the drive home, I pulled weeds from our front garden’s hydrangea bed.  It was so feral, I had to actually use tools from the shed, even though I’d started off thinking, “Oh I’ll just pull them up before I go inside…”  Ha, yeah right!  I spent two hours - TWO HOURS - weeding that garden bed.  It’s done now though and looks really nice and I have a bit of an idea what needs doing there.  The hydrangeas could use a little more pruning so they all come up relatively the same next spring and the entire bed needs remulching.  I think they were last mulched with a pine bark or something, but it appears the neighbours cat likes to dig (read: wee and poo) in the garden bed, so will have to look at pebbles maybe.

Once M was home from kinder the boys watched a bit of TV while I was busy with the bathroom sink.  I’ve started a bit of a routine where once ABC Kids is finished, the TV is turned off and they do “colour” (G’s word for it) while I prepare dinner.  They can draw in their new sketch books or picture colouring books and use crayons, markers or pencils, whatever they fancy.  It’s a nice way to signal the start of winding down for the night and if I’m waiting for something to simmer or boil, I can grab a marker and join in.

Feels nice to be blogging again :)  Here’s a recent family photo for you.

These were a HIT!  Even M, our resident vegetarian, ate dinner tonight thanks to kid-friendly mountain bread and do-it-yourself veges to fill up the wrap with.

Meatball Wraps

250g beef or lamb mince (we used lamb)

1 small carrot, coarsely grated

1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp chopped parsley (left it out as not enough in herb garden to pick)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp tomato sauce

Mountain or Lavash bread, hummus, shredded lettuce, red capsicum (seeded and thinly sliced) and grated tasty cheese.

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180C.  Line a baking tray with baking paper (I just spray the tray with oil).
2. In a bowl, combine mince, carrot, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg and tomato sauce.  Season to taste
3. Mould tablespoonfuls of mince mixture into balls (or wing it and grab little bits with your fingers).  Place on prepared baking tray.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and cooked through.  Drain on paper towel.
4. Spread bread with hummus.  Top with lettuce, capsicum, cheese and halved meatballs.  Roll up and serve.

(From Woman’s Day Marvellous Mince & More)

I doubled the recipe, which made up roughly 30 meatballs, and there are some leftover for Alex to take to work for lunch tomorrow.  There are some tips included with the recipe such as using tomato chutney in place of hummus, rocket or tabbouli instead of lettuce, and crumbled feta instead of grated cheese.  I was thankful for the hummus though, because as I mentioned the small vegetarian above, it meant he got some protein with his meal.  G just had mounds of ingredients on his plate and played around with the mountain bread.  A thoroughly enjoyed meal that we will SO be having again.

xx

So while I’ve got a few minutes as both boys nap, I thought I’d post something (!).  Yesterday I had some time to think about time management and organisation and how it affects us, and came back to menu planning.  Generally, I don’t menu plan, never really have, but it apparently works.  We’ll hopefully know what we’re eating (for dinner at least) and that will stop the endless spaghetti meals and last minute take away.

Without further ado… my first time participating in Menu Plan Monday!

Monday  ::  Shepherds Pie (last night)

Tuesday  ::  Meatball Wraps

Wednesday  ::  Boston Bean & Sausage Hotpot

Thursday  ::  Sausage, Potato & Rosemary Pizza

Friday  ::  Pork Fried Rice

What was that - looks like a lot of mince and sausages?  Well, that’d be because I just bought this new cookbook magazine by Woman’s Day called “Marvellous Mince & More”.  It’s a great little magazine and has inspired me to mix it up a bit.  If anything turns out super-fabulous, I’ll try and remember to post the recipe, and that might get me blogging more frequently

On that note, the youngest is just awake.

Long, long, long time no blog.  It’s just been busy, there’s no other way to put it.  This year has seen the start of four-year-old kinder and a bit more busy-ness than I was planning for.  I guess that’s what happens when you foolishly put your hand up for kinder committee president.  Oh, and there’s the whole two kids thing, which is a lot harder than one kid, especially when the younger one can walk and run and kinda talk and just generally be a very busy kind of child.  So, when it comes to the end of a day, whether it’s been a kinder day, or an at home day, or a hosting day, or an out with friends day, I just want to switch off.  I feel like blogging takes more brainpower than I’ve got spare when I finally get the time, so I just, you know, don’t do it.

Anyway, on to my compliment, I think.  Today we had a workmate of A’s and his family over for lunch (souvlakia with homemade tzatziki dip ta-da!), and it was their first time here.  I didn’t know until the last minute, but apparently this guy has just been hanging to see the place.  It seems when A first told people at work about moving and showed around pictures and floor plans, this guy thought it was just too small.  Never mind he doesn’t know us beyond working with A to know what our family needs, but as I said, never mind!  So, before this workmate and his wife and daughter arrived, we were madly cleaning the place (see, it’s not always spotless, only when “people come over”), to help show that indeed, it’s not that small.

Well, as it turns out, at some point this guy said to A that he like’s what we’ve done with the place and likes that we have just enough stuff to live… or something to that effect.  From what I understand, it was to do with clutter and furniture, and believe it or not, this is where I take the compliment!

I try every day to de-clutter and organise something.  I make weekly trips to Vinnies with a car boot full of bags and boxes.  And I am constantly thinking and looking and considering what to tackle next to make our house a home, and comfortable one at that.

Certainly this house is much smaller than our last, and certainly we have less stuff than we once had, but it’s lovely and it’s home and we quite like it here.

Also, how lovely is it when someone meets your child and comments on how polite they are?  It does help to hear these things once in a while, to give yourself a pat on the back and know you’re on the right track.  M is 5 now and I must admit so far I think it’s easier than 4 ever was.  There are still challenging days, but it’s like overnight he had a little nibbit of maturity increase.  He is starting to show more interest in ‘big boy toys’ like Lego and his iPod.  He still listens to childrens music, but I get a few more requests for the car radio these days, and often when I peek into my rearview mirror can see him bopping away, maybe even hear him humming along or trying to sing some words.

All in all, life is good, we’re all healthy and busy, and I’ve got a lot to be grateful for.  And to top it off - we have a week of cold weather ahead of us - bliss!  I hope you’re all happy and keeping warm and snug.

I was going to tweet this rant earlier, but it would probably take about thirty tweets, so thought it best to just blog.

We try to be environmentally friendly in this house as much as we can, and part of that includes washing products.  Having two boys who like to get dirty in the actual dirt outside, and love to eat, well, hands-on (or on-clothes, as the case may be), a husband who rides a bike to and from work (sweaty!!), I need a washing powder that gets the clothes clean.  Our usual washing powder is Omo-matic, and it does a spectacular job. It gets the whites white, keeps the brights bright and gets rid of all obvious visible dirt.

So, ok, I get it that there are probably nasty chemicals that do all those amazing things for our washing, so I branched out into the eco-market and bought some Eco Store washing powder, some Earth Choice washing powder and a bottle of Earth Choice liquid.  They are all vegetable based, ok for grey water and relatively inexpensive - brilliant, right?

Nope!

I’m willing to have duller than white whites and hang white washing in the sun to be bleached naturally, no worries.  I’ll even turn my brights inside out to avoid fading, easy done.  Tomato, texta, and other heavy stains might need some pre-treatment - and I’m down with that.  However, when obvious, run of the mill, dusty brown dirt is still showing on clothes and towels, that is jut not good enough.

Saying this, I do still have half a box and half a bottle of all detergents left and it wouldn’t be very environmentally friendly to just throw them out in frustration, so I’ll keep using them all until they’re gone.  Grit my teeth and suck it up as I hang still dirty washing on the line.

In the meanwhile, what can anyone recommend?  If it comes down to it, I might stick with the eco powders for nappy washing to keep detergent residue at bay, and use the nasty powders for the clothes and towels.