Back to normal life
We took Mum back to the airport yesterday, after a whirlwind 4 day visit. She was great to have here, she doesn’t stop doing dishes or laundry! But it was good to be able to chat, to see her playing with the kids, and cuddling Hannah as much as she could.
Gabby had the time of her life while away in Sydney. She had a lovely time being fussed over by relatives we don’t see often, and she brought home a swag of birthday gifts. She was very humbled and grateful, which is great to see.
Filed under Family Life | Comment (0)Electricity Free (almost) Wednesdays
We have been wanting to start this project for a while- or should I say “I have been”, because I really want to have a constant awareness of what we have, what we use without thinking about, and more of a realisation of how blessed we really are. We always thank the Lord before we eat, as it is a great time to remind us to say thanks- we’re all famished, eager to tuck in to our dinner, and without Gods favour, eating well could be a big problem.
But there are still many ways that we take lifes luxuries for granted. I do not want to be a miser, or a martyr, but I do want my children to know what others have to live without. Going without TV, DVD’s, the Wii, the microwave, dishwasher, computers, stereo’s, and a few lights for a day is a great way to start learning, if you ask me.
There is also other learning opportunities here too. According to our last whopping electricity bill, our daily usage for the quarter avaraged $7.22. Daily! We do live in a two story house, with down lights everywhere, and a heating system that you cannot zone off.
So, we calculated that even if we saved half of that ammount (I did not turn off the fridge, or other items like the cordless phone, modem, and other things at the wall points), we could be saving about $190 a year, which is about $45 per quarter. Not a great ammount, but the money side of it was not the top priority. Still- I’d like to keep that $45 per quarter for things we want or need, quite frankly!
Our new project went pretty well, I must admit. I guess we’ve had enough black outs to be prepared with candles and alternative ways of getting through the day or night, but I really wanted to eliminate the use of all non-essential electric items. Kind of like having our own “Earth Hour”, but every wednesday.
Our first port of call on tuesday was to tell our guests for wednesday what to expect on wednesday. They were very supportive, and the kids easily found other things to do.
So we had a lovely fresh salad with red kidney beans and fried onion (stovetop is gas), cashews, pepitas and sesame seeds, with a dressing of olive oil, vinegar and a pinch of salt for dinner. We ate by candle light, played Uno, chatted, and even went to bed much earlier than usual. It was quite relaxing. It was a new experience for us, and I have to say I loved it!
TV and I are not the best of friends. I despise the hold it can have on a family. Every member sits hypnotised by the big glossy wall of saturated colour. Very little thinking goes on. No personal interaction, except the odd cries to “Be quiet!” or “Sit down, I can’t see”!
I would love to say goodbye to it, but my family would probably consider saying goodbye to me first! Nah, just kidding.
Well, today is thursday, and the laptop is back on, a movie is playing for Joel, and Tori is working on something on her PC.
I’m off to boil the kettle! Ha!
Filed under Inglis Homeschool Campus | Comment (0)Happy Birthday dear Gabby!
Happy Birthday sweet heart!
Our lovely Gabby is in Sydney for two more days, then we can hug her to bits and have cake!
She is having a fabulous time. The chat we had on the phone this morning was very encouraging. She is really loving her one on one time with my Mum, and my sister. Through them she has also been able to see other family members, and they’ve all showered her with gifts, money and cake. What a life! It doesn’t get much better than that when you’re 9!
These are the things I like to point out to the kids that we are thankful for. I always like to remember that we are so blessed, even when our lives are just run of the mill (sometimes boring, difficult, drama filled) suburbian family life, we have all that we need, and some of the things we want. Sometimes money is tight, but we are still blessed beyond measure!
I never want to forget that, and celebrating our daughters birthday is a wonderful reminder of how blessed our family really is.
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Additive free family
We read up about additives and colours when Matt and I went to a “Fed Up with food Additives” discussion in Pakenham a few years ago. I knew something was up when my eldest daughter struggled to comprehend a simple statement, and it brought her to tears…so, it didn’t take long to realise what we needed to do. We tried the elimination diet, but of course not fully. It wasn’t easy but we did notice significant results.
Since then we’ve also learned more about gluten and lactose sensitivities. We have tried to minimise these things, but again, it’s not always easy, especially at other people homes.
Not that we’ve been diagnosed at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hypochondriac, I just want to be more aware of this fast-food- and disposable society we live in, and diet is a huge factor in health and wellbeing.
Recently I took our son to a Naturopath who takes a tiny sample of blood, then analyses the sample on the slide (which also coms up on a big monitor so I can see), and then explains what deficiencies etc are present because of the bloods behaviour and make up.
It was facinating. It was also overwhelming. Joel was so deficient in so many things. The reason I took him there was because of a sudden outbreak in excema sores which was quite shocking to look at. I expected the naturopath to say “keep him off gluten, give him some multivitamins”, or something like that.
She said…”Oh my…wow…I am glad you came….that’s very interesting..” etc.
He needed to repair the gut which was leaking tiny food particles, and other things into the blood. He needed a protein suppliment, omega 3 and 6, magnesium, folate, and more that I can’t recall now.
He needs to eat more eggs and fish, and veges of course. Fruit is not a problem, neither are the “cereals”. We all know that the food pyramid promotes a 50 year old idea which is not 100% accurate. We need LESS CEREALS, more veges, fruit, proteins, good oils. We just need more whole foods, as far away from manufacturing plants as possible. However, a diet like that is not always accessible, or willingly taken in by those “cheerfully compliant” children. So for now we are giving good quality suppliments, while trying to adjust the diet in the home.
But, back to the additives.
There are some people who burst your bubble as soon as you start to talk about the information you learn. I am sure you have met some. They want to discredit it all, saying that it’s home life, bad parenting, lack of discipline, even spiritual problems. But just not due to the staggering ammount of synthetic junk in our food.
I am fully aware that sometimes it can very well be home life, bad parenting, lack of discipline, even spiritual problems. Or a mixture of it all. So what we’re trying to do here is address it all. We are aware of additives, and avoid as many of them as possible. We home educate, and aim to create a loving, faith-filled home as our “campus”. We are organising ourselves to becoming as self sufficient as possible, leading us to wanting to grow our own veges and fruits. We are trying to instill a love of learning, along side respecting God, parents and others.
And we address those pesky spiritual issues. Actually, they’re not just pesky, but life altering! Our church teaches the importance of breaking the oaths and vows of our family’s generations, which are realised or unrealised. That is to say- deliberately taken or unknowingly. Both are legitimate and very real. More on that later.
Back on track again to those additives.
Last night I found a fabulous website. Please go to it at healthykidz.com.au
It’s fantastic, easy to navigate, full of relevant info, some recipes, and even a online store to purchase things not easily found in the supermarket. They are big promoters of Sue Dengate and “Fed Up with Food Additives”.
More later..it’s almost lunchtime!
Filed under Family Life | Comment (0)Today’s ramblings
This morning I woke with that familiar headache that plagues me from time to time. I was worried that it might become another “week long mild migraine”, but it did not. Thank you God, I can’t handle too many of those.
We’ve been preparing our home for the bi-annual property inspection, scheduled for tomorrow morning. Looking spick and span!
Our almost 9 year old is away in Sydney visiting Nanny and Poppy, it is a quiet house without her here. Nanny will fly back with her, and visit for a while before heading back home. It will be great to see Mum again. Her last visit was 6 months ago when the baby was born. She has grown so much, and it has gone so fast. I could have missed it if I wasn’t looking.
In the morning I will take our 2 year old to “sport”. It’s so sweet watching the group of bambino’s running around, and mine standing there stubbornly, co operation the LAST thing on his mind. I go with him, and “help”, and boy, do I get a workout.
Filed under Family Life | Comment (0)Hello world!
This blogging is more involved than I thought…hmm…got to give it a bit more time..now, where did I put that??
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