Friday Blog review: Loving Simple Living

This week's blog review is Loving Simple Living, which is written by an American blogger named Lorilee Lippencott. She and her family have downsized their life - by which I mean their possessions, what they eat and what they do. She has posts on how to simplify your life, be a minimalist and focus on things that you really need or love.

My favourite post is actually quite boring, but eye-opening at the same time - that sounds unusual I know, but you'll understand when you read it. Titled 'Minimalist Living - What we own', its basically a list of what she has in each room of the house (boring), but there's also photos of the rooms and they are amazingly empty of stuff. Now I like to have a little inspirational clutter around me - the results of play or learning on the carpet, a half-made casserole on the bench, that sort of thing - but I am inspired almost about the peaceful look of such a minimalist house.

And so this Mama is thinking that she could perhaps put things away more often. Does all the tea really need to sit out on the bench permanently? Do we really need a fish tank in the kitchen? Do we need all those backpacks up in the cupboard. I feel some de-cluttering coming on (again) ladies and gentlemen.

I read further and see a post for decluttering usable things - this is where I often get stuck. I'm usually confused when decluttering things that are perfectly fine, or I have spent good money on, or someone has given me as a gift, but I don't use - what do I do with these? It seems counter-productive to keep things that I don't use or love...but that clashes with my ideas about money and waste. This post clears things up a little by providing some guidelines for getting rid of usable items. Definitely something for this Mama to work on further.

And this gets me thinking about another book I read recently - Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. 'Thing' no.9 is; 'Be Boring: Its the only way to get things done'. Reading this was a bit like a revelation to me because it put some things together and made new sense of them to me. Like the bit where author, Austin Kleon, says:

"The thing is: It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don't have that energy if you waste it on other stuff."

And this makes more sense when you read another quote in the book, this time by Gustave Flaubert:

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work".

I like this. I strive for creativity in my life and in the life of my family, but its been very chaotic of late and my creativity has taken a dive. This book, and Loving Simple Living, help me to make sense from this chaos and give me a direction forward. More to come on this I'm sure...

Good days to you all.

Loving my bathroom

Our bathroom was the recipient of lots of love this week. Bethany and I cleaned with my homemade vinegar and eucalyptus spray, lots of scrubbing and a final wipe with some re-usable cloths. As I worked I focused on the things I love about the bathroom, and I really enjoyed all that scrubbing and wiping and spraying. You see, our bathroom needs some attention. The sink is old and paint is peeling, the bath and shower have sealant around them to keep the water from leaking through, however mould-that-cannot-be-removed is growing underneath, leaving a permanent dark stain around each. I would like to have shiny, natural and colourful materials in there, with a shower and bath that are able to be 100% clean when I put in the effort. That's not in our budget however, and likely won't be for a while.

And so I thought loving thoughts as I scrubbed away with Bethany. I thought about the joy the bath brings each girl every night and I was pleased that we even have a bathroom to call our own. I love the mirror my Mother gave us with its bright, Indian designs. And I love that the shower continues without fail (except when there's no hot water!) to keep us clean and prepared to face the world each.

And now this Mama is a happy one. Its like the bathroom has a new coat and its not the same, old bathroom as before. It feels different. Quite simply, my love for it has grown. And I wonder, as this Mama does, whether this is true for many things in life. Perhaps the more love I put into anything, the more love it will give me back... Hmmm, something for this Mama to ponder on further.

But please excuse me for waffling on, I am having a lovely week and hope you are too.

I heart you :-)

Finding love is such an important part of everyday life. We often talk about it when we look for a life partner or when we're thinking about our passions in life, but its really something that we can do at anytime of any day. It's really about shifting our perspective to see how we can truly love what we're doing at the time - whether that be washing the dishes, changing a nappy or dealing with a recalcitrant partner.

Love can be found wherever you look for it...

Here is a link to a cute you tube clip from 365grateful - enjoy!

Raw Choc Sesame Balls

I make these based on a healthy, homemade choc-nut spread recipe which I've adapted to turn into balls of chocolately (but healthy) goodness (although I've added honey, rather than rice malt syrup, but either will do).
After several attempts and lots of eating by all I think I have a recipe that will work. Enjoy - and let me know how you go...

 

Raw Choc Sesame Balls

 

4 Tbl coconut butter, just melted (not too hot)

4 tbl peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1 tbl honey

1 tbl raw Cacao powder

I 1/2 cups sesame seeds

 

1. Melt the coconut butter until its just turned to a liquid. This won't take long however if you let it get hotter it will start to cook the peanut butter when you add it.

 

2. Take the saucepan off the stove and mix in the peanut butter, honey, cacao powder and 1 cup of sesame seeds until well combined.

 

3. Place the saucepan in the fridge until the coconut butter has set again (about 20 mins).

 

4. Take the saucepan from the fridge with the now-solid mixture. Scoop teaspoons of the hardened mixture into your palm and roll into balls then roll these into the remaining sesame seeds to coat.

 

5. Return the balls to the fridge to set completely (about 1 hour). Makes approximately 25 balls of chocolaty antioxidant goodness.





Quick break (a.k.a Weekend at Noni's)

We've just returned from Bairnsdale and a lovely time with Noni and Pa.

For the girls there was much gardening, playing with Oscar dog, running through the grass and setting up a pretend home corner inside.

Meanwhile Ian and I helped with the gardening too, fixed the ride-on, wrote school reports (Ian) and blog posts (me) and attempted to find child-free moments to talk with my parents.

I can safely say that a great time was had by all and we look forward to doing it again.

Thanks Mum and Dad for listening to my budget drivel!

Friday blog review: Down to Earth

The Down to Earth blog by Rhonda Hertzel focuses on 'sustainability via house and yard work' - its simple, no fuss, no claims to fame - just humble honesty. This feels like a different sort of blog to me.

I take a further look and see a nice quote on the front page:

"We who live in quiet places have the opportunity to become acquainted with ourselves, to think our own thoughts and live our own lives" - Laura Ingalls Wilder

I scroll further and see there are sponsored ads on this site, but they're relevant to sustainable home-making and obviously placed there with care (rather than consumer-abandon). I click on a link to eco-friendly organic yarns in Australia and feel my excitement growing (mmmm, new yarns to knit with, weaving and spinning tools...).

I scroll further and find links to all of Rhonda's tags. I click on 'aquaponics' because I've been thinking I'd like to know more about this for a while. Her post is informative and links nicely to further information.

I notice that she has been writing on home-based sustainability for a while and has many, many posts and tags. I definitely want to find the time to read further and can see how I will get a lot out of this blog.

As I write this review I'm at my parent's property in Bairnsdale, and reading Down to Earth reminds me of the myriad books on frugal, simple living which belong to Mum and Dad.

After I've perused Mum's bookshelves yet again I pick out two books that I've looked through before and come back to each time I'm here. Somehow they seem relevant to Down to Earth and Rhonda's message:

Domestic Goddess on a Budget by Wendyl Nissen is one and her writing always has me inspired to handmake anything and everything, grow what I can and really love my home. She's based in New Zealand.

The Hard time Handbook is the other book I pick out. It was written 30 years ago by Keith and Irene Smith (editors of Earth Garden magazine) and so sounds a little old in its language, but I like its no-nonsense way of explaining how to do stuff and the wealth of topics it covers. In particular I like the stories about a family who bought their food once a year and saved lots of money, of how to save seeds and the value of re-making worn-out sheets (plus plenty of others).

These books both remind me of the humble, down to earth approach in Rhonda's blog and I like this lack of pretense.

Of course, Mum's shelves are full of plenty of other books about sustainablity, frugal living, cheap and healthy cooking, green cleaning techniques... and I hope to write about all of those in time.

I wish you a day that is down to earth and very satisfying.

Elsa's cardy

My niece Elsa was the recipent of another knitting project ( I love knitting for children), this time another In Threes cardigan in a size 5.

And though it took a while (and wasn't finished when she came to visit...), it was worth the smile on her face now that she has it in her possession.

Wet Winter Wander

With Winter officially begun (as of June 1st in Australia), the rain came thick and fast for two days and we were kept inside knitting and playing. But as another wet day dawned Ian forgo his planned bike ride and we took a family walk to the Mount Beauty Gorge to see the river raging from the rains.
As we walked our inside grumpies disappeared and we breathed the fresh, wet air strongly. From the new swing-bridge we could see rapids that only appear at higher water levels and hear the roar of larger ones further downstream.
Bethany was happily tucked into her rainsuit in the backpack and Rosie carried her new umbrella to keep the continuing rain at bay.

It was a lovely, slow morning free from any hustle and bustle - just what we needed.