My day

I had a very rare day off work today and had a list written of jobs to achieve. Because it was going to be hot I planned to do my housework this morning then some time out this afternoon to catch up on some magazines and nanna napping! I think planning my day was my mistake! At 7 am I realised I had a major plumbing issue in the bathroom, very unpleasant. Rang the plumbers at 8am who were here half an hour later and were able to fix the problem although it did take quite a while and by then my schedule had gone by the wayside! Oh well there is always tomorrow......

Happy flowers

These beautiful flowers arrived on Tuesday from one of my bridesmaids. After I cried that she had remembered I couldn't help but smile at them , so cheery and bright.

New recipes

As part of the new organised me I am planning to make two new recipes a week. One a general one and one a Thermomix one. Last night for dinner  in the Thermomix I made Pasta e fagioli. Something I would not normally serve up and I did wonder how it would go down with my meat loving son but adding bacon sweetened the deal. We did decide next time we would add chorizo for the extra flavor instead. I am enjoying cooking from scratch and playing with ingredients (like the borlotti beans) that I wouldn't generally use.

4th February 2014

25 years ago today I married my best friend full of hope and dreams for the future. We look so young and I am rocking the spiral perm! What wonderful memories we have made over the years and raised two amazing young adults. These are what gets me through as my heart breaks all over again every single day ......

Cobwebs and all..

Another of my resolutions / getting organised this year is getting back into my craft. It makes me happy and relaxed so not sure why it has not happened for a very long time. Luckily for my budget I am in no danger of having to spend any money on fabric any time soon . This block of the month has been gathering dust and sadly there is the following years barely started as well! The plan is to quilt, stitch or crochet at least 3 times a week until it becomes a habit again. Now to decide what to work on first!

Poor hot Fred!

This is how Fred spent most of today in the heat! Without air conditioning he found it hard to keep cool, didn't interrupt his sleeping though!

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month - February

Well January was a month of working full time due to staff shortages, some small home renovations, hot weather ( without air conditioning ) and being very unorganised! I often say my year runs from February to November! December and January are lost causes. Anyway my weekend is revolving around getting ready for the month ahead. Not sure how successful I will be but here's trying. A lot of today was spent organising my new budget, in a book, the old fashioned way, just how I like it ! The last few months I have just bumbled through but that has to stop. I have gone from two wages to one part time one and life is going to have to change. It is doable but will require some discipline. All set up so let's see how we go! A few places to make easy cuts so that is a good start.
I saw an idea on either a blog or Facebook at some stage, no idea where sorry, of the 52 week envelope. Each  week for the year you put the corresponding dollars in the envelope, ie. wk 1 $1, wk 10 $10, wk 52 $52. The amount you end up with at the end of the year was extraordinary for little effort . I have started so figure that is enforced savings for Christmas.
Please tell me I am not the only one to budget!
And in closing please take a few minutes to check your Superannuation plan as to whether it has death cover or illness cover, take out some life insurance and think seriously about income insurance. We had the forms but they were on the 'to do' pile and was expensive for a 'just in case' scenario.by the time we knew we needed this it was too late, SH's super would of been fantastic when he retired in another 20 years but was sadly lacking in our circumstances. I think our financial advisor let us down terribly but at the end of the day it was our responsibility to ensure we had the right cover, we found out the hard way we didn't :(