A good read.

One good thing about my children reaching adulthood is that they introduce me to new  music, art and literature.  Some is just beyond my brain being able to comprehend or cope with but there is also a lot that I embrace.  My son David lent me all three books of 1Q84 to read at Christmas, and I just finished reading it. I'm not a slow reader by any means, it is just a lot of reading.  It is something I probably wouldn't have even picked up if I came across it in a bookstore or library and I am so glad he passed it on to me. I'm not going to tell you what it is about, you can go HERE to find that out,  but I do recommend it.
I have gone through the box of books my daughter left here and pulled a few out to look at, once again books I wouldn't normally pick up, but who knows I might just find a gem in these as well??

Update on beating procrastination.

I am still doing quite well at beating procrastination but it is so very, very exhausting!!!!!
I am doing the jobs that need doing instead of sitting and just reading one more page of my book, or having a quick coffee or whatever else I can think of to put off getting on with the task at hand.
So much is getting done but it really is tiring. The lawns are mowed, the windows are all clean, there is a new shelf in the laundry and on it goes. Maybe procrastination isn't really about putting things off and more about pacing yourself?

Beating Procrastination-Day 1

After writng my Post about Procrastination yesterday and reading the information I linked to I decided that maybe I had better make an effort to do things rather than stuff around avoiding them.

First job was to get Nicky's belongings tidied up in one corner of my sewing room. I got that done and now have room to move if I decide I need to do some sewing.

Next I tackled the weeds in the vegie garden seeing as it wasn't quite as hot as usual. I pulled all the Beetroot out first then set about finding the rest of the vegetable plants under the weeds. I got most of it weeded before it got too hot and sticky. 

I washed the Beetroot and put it all in the huge pot I got from Mum when she had a clean out a while ago. It boiled away merrily for an hour or so because the beetroot was quite large.

I ended up with 14 jars of Beetroot by the end of the day.  

                          Absolutely gorgeous colour.

I had a go at making some bread in my mixer as well, while the beetroot was cooking. It wasn't a bad effort but there are one or two things that could be improved so will try a different recipe next time.
One of Ben's friends brought me a bowl of stewed apricots yesterday afternoon so there will possibly be a pie for dessert tonight. I am sending him out some of the Beetroot as we have a little bit of a barter system happening.
I was feeling very productive and self sustaining last night,(not to mention, pretty tired as well) but it will probably be days or even weeks before I have a day like that again. I will work on my Procrastination though and maybe I will manage to accomplish a little more in my days than I usually do.
It is just amazing what you can do if you just get on with it instead of  finding silly little time wasting things to do to avoid the jobs you should be doing.

Procrastination Take 2

Unless you live underground you know how hot it has been in Australia the past few weeks, to the point that the Bureau of Meteorology has added a new colour to the temperature map. Today is much cooler, well this morning anyway and I decided that I should get up in my sewing room and have a bit of a tidy up. No, I haven't been sewing, my daughter has gone overseas for a couple of months and I am storing all her belongings here. The sewing room always seems to be the place everything gets dumped in and I need to try and clear a space for me. Now the point of this story is that even though I have been up for ages and my little bit of housework is done, I still haven't gone up there yet. Yep I am once again practicing the fine art of Procrastination.

Back in October I talked about my procrastination here and it is a bit of a joke with me and I think many others. I was emailed by a lovely lady who wanted to send me a link to a study at Online Classes.org about procrastination and its effects. Once again I procrastinated and didn't contact her the first time but luckily she is persistent and I finally got the link yesterday.

Instead of walking into the sewing room and just getting on with it I thought I would  sit and do this post first. I have got up half way through and watered some plants, gone into the laundry and picked up the bag of stuff that the cats pulled off the laundry door handle over night (How they did it will remain a mystery!!!) and done a few other things that caught my eye and didn't really need to be done. 

I am a chronic procrastinator when it comes to the unimportant things that do need to be done but really aren't that urgent. I find though that important stuff and things with deadlines that I have to deal with are usually not subject to my procrastinating skills. Well, there was one thing but someone dealt with that for me making me realise that I should have dealt with it years ago because it made life so very much better, but that is another story that may or may not be told.

Anyway back to the subject...........It may interest you to know that Procrastination is on the rise and considering all the gadgets we have to distract us now I am not surprised. It is easy to wander the internet for hours and put off the things we should be doing. But apparently procrastinating is not good for our health, decreases productivity in the workplace and causes stress. Sounds like a lot of bad habits people have. 

So maybe it really isn't a joking matter at all but a serious problem that we need to work on. 

If you are interested in reading more facts about Procrastination click on the link below.

Graphic from Online classes.org

Quitting the procrastination game isn't easy... But it is possible. Online classes.org

Looking for respite.

Like most places we are going through quite extreme heat, not as hot as some places but forecast temps of 40 degrees plus for the next week is not something to look forward to.

The animals are really feeling the heat and yesterday we threw the dogs in the pool every now and then and machicho was happy to float around on the boogie board every time I went in to cool off. 

Machicho slept on my bed between swims under the fan.

David's cat Bobbum slept between my screen and keyboard most of the day,

Fred usually positions himself here when it gets really hot.

And Munchie finds somewhere on a floor or she gets into  my wardrobe.

I looked everywhere for Rev, Cato and Atticus and couldn't see them anywhere. They appeared later covered in cobwebs so they must have been under the house which is one of the coolest places on a hot summers day.  We have filled a spray bottle up with water to cool the rats off. The poor little things just lie flat out in their cage. The pot plants I just watered are attracting wasps looking for water and the butterflies are going under the house looking for the coolest spot as well. 

I hope you have somewhere cool to escape the worst of the heat and your animals have found their place to spend the day.

Pizza for Dinner

Although I have a ban on anyone in the family giving me appliances for presents, my Mum can get away with it because after all ....she is my Mum. This year she gave me a Sunbeam Mixer for Christmas.

Last night my daughter decided that she would make Pizzas for dinner and thought that for its maiden voyage we could make the pizza dough in the new mixer. I have fallen in love with the dough hooks and the way the pizza dough worked out. It was a much nicer base and quicker than making it in the bread maker.

 The boys were late home and Nicky and I had already had our fill of the barbecue chicken pizza

and the Neapolitan Pizza and as we were discussing doing a blog post about them the boys arrived.
It was a mad dash to the kitchen with my camera to get a couple of quick photos before the boys devoured them.
Seeing as the Pizza dough turned out so well we are going to try our hand at making bread with it. After over 15 years of providing us with bread the poor bread maker may be facing retirement.

(PS A tip for extra good Pizza dough is to put a teaspoon of honey in it when mixing. Nicky's friend Ben suggested it and it was confirmed by Errol who is two of my sons best mate and an honorary family member. He has worked at and managed the local Pizza shop for a couple of years now so knows what he is talking about.)

Happy New Year!!!

I wish you all a safe, happy and maybe even prosperous New Year.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!