August: that time of year.

I've had this post in draft for a week. Time to set it free!

The Adobe Makeit Conference feels like last year. I went with K a new casual designer at work who is also from church. I stayed with AM, K stayed with friends, the conference was great! It was a hectic few days, driving and parking a work car in the city, enjoying the sessions and crowds, catching up with AM and Elsie and I also popped into the new offices of Matthias Media and saw Anna.

Smuggling fancy butter out of the conference lunches.

I made a SPLENDID thai red curry in my slow cooker. Recipe here. An instagram friend shared it a while back. JK had some and approved. You need at least half a jar of curry paste, is my only advice.

It's that time of year. I took a flex day on a Friday. I decided to go to the Sandgate markets and buy flowers for some friends, plus get whatever veg bargains they had. I got a box of tomatos for $2 and 2 trays of pink lady apples for $20.

I went to JK house and she helped me bunch them up. We did 7 bunches! Then I delivered a few (left them in tins of water at front doors if people weren't home. It took most of the morning. I also did little notes.

So. Many. Food.

After a rest, I took more flowers out and then did park walk with friends. The day wasn't exactly as restful as I hoped because of the flower business, but when I saw this beautiful evening sky I realised I was feeling more refreshed, because I'd been outside doing things on a beautiful day.

I've got a new routine, to visit the farmer stalls in the mall before cello and buy a cauliflower or bread or whatever good things are selling.

There was a bunch of glorious sunrises. And a lot of pretty mild weather. It's a nice time of year.

Ah, just a photo of a chair I DID NOT BUY. But I want all the chairs.

JK and me saw Les Miserables at the Civic Theatre. So emotional. It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light. GOOD SONGS!

Maddie and I went to our neighbour's 80th Birthday. The Chinese traditional dance was a surprise.

Maddie discovered a very old cemetery out in the fields. I will go back, it's a great walking destination. Terribly bad condition. Only about 3 of the stones are still standing. There's apparently some kind of heritage plan, but hmmmooo.

I've got a flapper costume organised for Maddie's 21st next Saturday. Borrowed a dress and spent some money on extras at Spotlight. PHEW. Costumes are a bit of hassle.

Home Group girls had a girls night. We made dumplings.

And finally, on the weekend I was driving through town and an antique shop that is never open was open! And I bought this pale birds egg blue vintage jug. I don't know what for, its just classic and perfect. Orange juice would look well in it.

And now for my reflections.

I'm still enjoying reading The Art of Frugal Hedonism. I think about money a lot really, not like with $$ in my eyes, but always thinking is this wise, is that wise, is this generous, is that greedy, and the book is helpful to reassess western lifestyles, the air we breathe. For example, I was waiting to see Les Mis, and we had about 45 minutes, and it was after lunch time and I hadn't had lunch, just a brunch, so I thought I might get hungry during the play. But I suddenly really didn't want to go to a cafe for a second time that day, spend money, fill my stomach and fill in time. That's what I would normally do, spend money to fill in the time pleasantly, and that's actually not a great use of money. So I scouted around the cafes and found one of them sold apples for $1, and I bought it and ate it outside the theatre, and it was quite enjoyable really. Really I should have been prepared with a drink bottle and my own apple, but at least I was resourceful. 

The book has a lot of chapters, only a couple of pages long, so it's easy to digest. A chapter at breakfast time. Thing I already do: planning socialising around exercise or making, rather than eating and spending. Me and the home group girls doing dumpling-making-and-eating. It was  healthier than pizza, it was fun making them, it was about $8 per person and we all took away enough for another 2-3 meals. Not only this, the conversation was great. The Frugal Hedonists reckon we are hard-wired to talk and do, and talking happens better while our hands are doing something, or our feet are moving. Thing I want to do: small spontaneous adventures. A long night walk. A train trip up the valley. Thing that I have learnt: A surplus of something makes you feel rich. I mainly go for meal prepping and efficiency, but when I bought 2 trays of apples for $20, and a box of tomatoes for $2, I had SO MUCH! An abundance! I put apples in everything! I feel rich in apples! Tomatoes for everyone! Or when I've found cheeses marked down to 50 cents and bought them all and shared them with friends. Or buying a tray of mangos. We need to enjoy those seasons of abundance. It's a nice offset to the norm of low-waste, efficient meal-prepping. 

I found the Four Corners episode on Housing Affordability and the Insight episode on homeless older women very confronting. I think bc we've had a couple of generations of affluence in Australia, we think affluence is the norm, but actually it's the exception. If you think about ANY other time and place, lots of people people were/are poor, old people depended on their families, vulnerable people got put in the workhouse, or committed crimes and got transported to Australia, or starved to death because of the potato famine. I've read Oliver Twist. I've heard of The Great Depression. Etc, etc, etc. Poverty is actually more the norm, but like that saying, the first generation treasures something, the second generation takes it for granted, and the third generation forgets it. The Great Depression is distant history now, we grandchildren take being middle-class for granted, and then whoa! actually debt is just as bad a trap as it was in Little Dorrit, old age is just as vulnerable as in Our Mutual Friend, lawyers fighting insurance cases can suck away your savings like in Bleak House.

In the stories, there is a mix of tragic bad luck, foolish naivety (one lady worked for no pay for 26 years!), and really awful stories of sneaky mortgage brokers and dodgy property spruikers and greedy lawyers. All straight from Dickens. And then how different people deal with it is interesting: some women were grateful to live in a share house or with family, and others were so fiercely independent they won't settle for anything less than a unit of their own with a garden, so in the meantime they live in a van on a waiting list. There's some theory I've heard about contentment being found in the size of the gap between expectation and reality, which felt true here.

It's too easy for me to judge, because I'm 33 and healthy and in full employment and living in a town with affordable housing and I have supportive relationships. Haven't done anything to deserve this. 

My take-homes were: 

1. Trust God, because you don't know the future but he does, and he gives us our daily bread. 'In every station, new trials and troubles call for more grace than I can afford.' Song here.

2. Be wise, because you can't just trust God while you live beyond your means and still expect a nice retirement (this is a loose prosperity gospel I think), and while all our circumstances are different we can all learn to be wise. But don't worry so much you work yourself to the ground, see point 1.

3. Relationships are an important safety net. (And can even be financially helpful, like how I have a housemate, she keeps me company AND she helps pay my mortgage and bills a bit. Or you can consider buying property with a sibling or a friend, it's unusual but it does happen. It's often cheaper to live in community than in isolation, if it suits your situation—we all know housemates can be stressful!)

4. Jesus said blessed are the poor. If you are poor, own it. Girls of Slender Means! FruGALs! Frugal Hedonism! It's not the end of the world, it's just life with less money and less self-reliance and less worldly power. It doesn't mean less value in God's eyes, less community, less spiritual growth, less joy, less of anything really important.

5. We won't have to worry about this stuff in heaven, so I guess dying poor makes no difference in the big picture. All men are like grass. Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy. etc etc

I really wonder what the future of housing is in Australia. I guess the baby boomers will die eventually and that should free up some properties. I don't know. The situation in Sydney is impossible.

I was getting impatient with people and obsessed with efficiency. Time to watch the Sara Groves video again. Anyway, there aren't enough hours in the week. It's a lovely idea, to slow down and waste time, but monday to friday are full of work and cello and exercise and home group and physio exercises and a bit of TV and going to bed as early as I can. Thankfully the days are getting longer. I suppose I could sleep less, I'm getting a good 8-9 hours. And since my back is better it's been good sleep! Middle of the month was bad sleep, back was hurting and legs were going numb. Not extreme, just uncomfortable and frustrating.

Work was dreary. Not very busy, and nobody else was the office. By the 3rd week I was grumpy like a hermit. Every so often someone came in and says "ooooooh, it's quiet in here, are you all alone?". It's me and my podcasts and audiobooks. Judge John Hodgman. My only company at work. I love him so much. Oh and James Valentine on ABC. But now a few people are in, including the new designer. Much better for my mood.

Very thankful I have regular weekly social things with people like Monday Tiff with Fi/Ros, and Friday park walk. Because they are regular things they don't require much emotional initiation or organisational energy. I've met a new woman at church who plays the violin, so there's potential to actually play my cello with another person!  

Mantras. Brene Brown is a fan of mantras and I've realised I use them. Norm Etherington talked about having ONE bible verse to cling onto in life. Or for a season. In the past it has been 'God works all things for the good of those who love him'. My mantra this month is 'you be you and I'll be me'. It reminds me that I can let other people's advice and opinions roll off me, and I can keep my opinions and advice to myself, which is wise because my opinions are usually blunt and unloving. So when I'm annoyed by someone I say to myself 'you be you and I'll be me'.

July: hump month.

Well July is done, mostly uneventful. I get to pick a poppy every couple of days. 

Nothing good or bad has happened, really. Having a good winter, mentally and everything. What I want is a bit more time to think. I have a lot of great input at the moment. I'm digesting the Blueprint material (investing and being a responsible adult - I should get a will), reading through The Art of Frugal Hedonism (enjoy life not stuff), lots of good podcasts -  The Money, Straight and Curly, Budget and Cents - about what I think of as maximising life. Searching for a change. Probably just bored of routine, even though it's basically working well.

Here are some random thoughts!

I'm going to keep up with my gratitude journal til the end of the year but after that I'll try other things. This blog is a monthly reflection which performs a similar job. But also, praying in thanks to the father who gives me all these blessings. I could follow this through and thank people who are blessing me in many ways. Another idea I like is a shared gratitude journal for my house - if M and I both wrote down things it would be encouraging to read each other's things. Maybe a chalkboard or something.

I'm intrigued by people who chuck in normal life and live without money, or go off the grid in some way, or quit their jobs to be something interesting. I've been in the same place for 3.5 years now so that's when I usually have a massive change like moving house, also it's winter and the days are short and life feels like just work and life admin... so I daydream about being a hippy. But also I'm rational, and I'm going to delay being a hippy until my house is paid off. I think being debt free is more my type of freedom. Maybe I WILL be a part time artist then, or take 2 months unpaid leave each year, or something. I just need to remember this plan when the house is paid off and not upsize for a bigger garden.

I've been thinking about dating, and how it's the worst. I don't know how anyone gets married. So maybe there's a real roadblock in me? But on the other hand, I'm really good at being single. I'm not fearful of singleness. Thankful for that.

Out of the deep stuff: I love the show Grimm! Seasons 1-3 are on Netflix. It's just solving crime and fighting monsters, very mainstream and middle of the road, but it's right in my comfort zone. Very low tension, hardly any emotional drama, a little bit of gore and horror, action and fights, beautiful forests, likeable goodies. Big soft spot for Woo (Asian cop!). I have now bought season 4 on DVD. 

Probably watching too much TV though.

Cello lessons are back on. I restarted practice 3 weeks before term 3 so that I was kind of fit again. It's a thing I'm not sure about. It's so expensive, it's another job to do each day, what am I doing it for, and now I'm getting into kayaking which is another expensive hobby to setup... My house will soon be filled with the paraphenalia of a new hobby every 2 years. But I'm doing pretty well at it, I'm at 2nd grade so I'm working with positions. I just hope there is an opportunity to play with other people at some point. The duets I did with my colleague last year were so much fun.

And now the photo processing where I remember what happened last month.

Meal prep: I discovered cauliflower rice and it's great. Quinoa out, cauliflower in. I'm going to try and buy them fresh from farmer stalls that are in Maitland every second Thursday.

The slow cooker I inherited from Elsie has been getting a workout. I've done pork, lamb, beef and chicken. It works on all the meat. Mum and dad moved in for a few nights while their roof was being fixed and this was some excellent dinner for us.

Had some amazing sunsets this winter. Also it's been dry and mild and really pleasant weather.

Photos of rainbows turn into domes apparently.

I had a lovely flex day when I went to to Heritage Gardens nursery and bought some Star Jasmines and had morning tea. This was a really GOOD banoffie.

This is my last shady section of fence. Hoping the jasmine gets enough sun in summer to grow. I rigged up 10cm wire mesh on the fence for it to twine through. I think I'll plant sweet peas there this summer too and see how that goes.

 Nice big orange butterflies around at work.

Lemons galore! I had a big lemon baking day, where I made lemon curd, lemon coconut slice and lemon delicious.

Went to the Newy farmers markets with JK for the first time. Had a nice lunch, bumped into Liz, bought fresh ginger and some tea and mushrooms and things. AND CRUMPETS! Black Fox Bakery crumpets that are delicious!

Mia brought her dog in to work for a week. It was nice to have Lucy chilling out.

THen it was a farewell for Mia, and I organised it with Jo, and I baked this GF lemon cake.

Have had a newbie with nice little kids join us on our Friday park walks.

As well as Grimm, I watch a bit of Terrace House.

I went to a friend's auction which was interesting. It was passed in. Because the NSW trustees set an absurd reserve.

Project kayak took a step forward. Roof racks on!

JK and I went out for dinner for her birthday, soft shell crab, and free birthday churros!

And my favourite pair of jeans went in the bin.

Winter travels.

June was great! 

I started the month with another cold. Run down from May. Two friends invited me to the Newcastle Flower Markets with them, which was great to check out. I was planning on getting natives but then the pink and white mums got me. They are still almost alive a month later!

Taire said we should pick some wattle foliage from the trees on the highway for free to boost our bouquets. GENIUS. Resulting in this from my housemate.

 Here is my bouquet!

Took meal prep up a level and prepped BREAKFAST. This is like an apple crumble but healthier.

Good things happening in my garden. Sugar snap peas, rocket, irises not rotting... In fact I am moving my irises to higher ground. I bought soil and mixed it with river sand to make very drainy soil and dug out the irises and planted them in sandy hills.

I rediscovered the joy of walking in the rain. Walking in the sun is good for you, but walking in a little bit of rain is being alive.

Julia turned 30! And did her own style of birthday. I spent the day in Singleton decorating the cake and meeting some friends.

At the last minute I remembered the Back to Back wool challenge on the Sunday of the long weekend. Spent about 3 hours at Tocal with JK, listening to music, eating scones, and knitting.

On the Monday I went to a pancake brunch with churchies. Note the trend towards black pants amongst the young people.

Some pretty kale.

My first yellow poppy! I've so far had about quite a few white ones, and 3 yellow ones. Really hoping for some pink.

Ahhh! And then Melbourne! Way back last year a few of us got cheap flights to Melbourne for this June. JK and my flight from Newcastle was cancelled so we got bumped to the 6 am flight :\ so on Wednesday morning we got up at 4:30 and drove to the airport. We got a taxi from Tulla to our airbnb, which was in North Fitzroy. It was sunny and spacious and well heated and there was a friendly dog called Ollie. We rested til George and Elsie arrived, listening to Bec's Sunday Storytime reading of Sense and Sensibility. Then we walked to the nearest cafe which was very Melbourny, and I had minestrone - to lay a nice veggie base in my belly for all the meat and noodle I was planning to eat later!

We dressed up and went by uber to Victoria St Winter Night Markets, which is a big shed mainly of food, so lots of meat and international BBQs.

Then we caught a few free trams to the theatre and saw Aladdin. Overall not my favourite musical, it isn't as good as the cartoon, but lots of enjoyable things. The dancing is fabulous, the singing is uneven, the sets and costumes are 100% amazing and sparkly. A feel good show.

The next day I think we did some Tiff workout? Then we went to the only thing I wanted to do in Melbourne, Meng from If You Are The One's noodle restaurant. The food was REALLY good. Would recommend.

Then we looked around some shops and eventually split up. E wanted to got to kinky gerlinki, which was hard to find, but we found some other things on the way. This chocolate cafe called Ganache, with best iced chocolate ever I think. And a clothes shop called Larry with whimsical linen and vintage clothes.

At 3:30 I thought I better scurry over to the art gallery and see the Van Gogh exhibition. I'm not a fangirl, but shouldn't waste these opportunities. 90 minutes is just about long enough to see it. The audio tour was wonderful. The tour gave me heaps of insight into his life and what he was attempting to paint. His letters to his brother were read by David Wenham, and he was just such a sensitive person. Intense but very pure in his ambitions. The way the paintings were arranged was effective too. By the time you get to the Summer room and see his style fully realised, it is this powerful recognition after years of struggle.

I got myself home on the tram by myself. Achievement worth noting. Using public transport system in new city where you don't recognise anything. I got stuck on the tram one stop too long because I thought you had to tap off but you don't.

The next day, Friday, I caught a tram to the station then a train for an hour down to Yaraman and saw my first housemate and her 2 kids. Very cute. Hadn't seen her since her wedding.

I caught the train back to the city for lunch. I had no data so this day was a bit old-school, I got some paper maps from the info centre. I tried to explore the laneways and find somewhere for lunch. I got too hungry so eventually picked a Korean place. I can't remember the food but I remember a table of geeks sat next to me and talked about games.

E had gone to explore the beach. So we met in the city on her way back through and got a tram to Lygon street to meet a friend of hers at Brunetti's, the famous pastry cafe. It's big. I had a nice afternoon special. Elsie charged her phones.

The 3 of us had a nice evening walk up the street. I was drawn into this tea and spice shop by the smell.

We had such good weather down there. Sunny and clear. Autumn really.

 JK was at home and G was out with her friends so E and I got some salad and a good pizza and went home to eat our Lygon Street Italian Food in front of the TV - Win a date with Tad Hamilton.

Saturday was our last day. We packed and checked out, and got a uber to Southern Cross, and put our bags into a locker. Then we got the tram back in to town and the laneway cafes weren't as busy as I expected, so we had morning tea.

I guided us with the tour map around all the laneways which is a good way to see lovely things. We found this hat shop and G and I bought tweed hats that are like bonnets without brims. Very cute.

And then we struck gold, a shop called Design A Space which is maybe a co-op shop for independent design labels, and the clothes were awesome - wearable clothes but more distinctive than mainstream fast fashion. I bought 3 things. Will go back.

We had ramen for lunch in a food court, and then taxi to the airport. Travelling with group of 4 was great because we split so many costs.

These are the queues at the gates for our two flights. Since JK and I did carry on we did a bit of weighing our bags and putting on a few extra layers to get from 8kg to 7kg. In the end they didn't check us.

Here is a PERFECT camellia on my small little tree, which greeted me upon my return from Melbourne.

On Sunday I got sick again. Maybe it was the same cold as at the start of the month, I don't know, I just got up feeling tired, and after doing my grocery shopping and watching some TV, went back to bed with aches. I was a bit distressed because why was I sick again and what even is it that you don't have any symptoms except aching. I couldn't go to church.

On Monday I was a lot better, just tired from being sick, but I was planning to go to work because there was a book to fix up that week. But I decided to check my email first and hooray, the book was on hold because of discussions, so I stayed home. I felt very loved by Ros who happened to have made Vietnamese chicken soup on her day off, so she came over for dinner and brought it and left me some leftovers for the next night too.

Went in on Tuesday, had a flex on Wednesday, I wasn't super sick but I wasn't 100%. I decided to go for a walk to test my health on Wednesday and it was a bit slow and hard so I knew I was still not healthy. I bought a pair of black jeans on sale at Lizzy's so now I feel relevant to the youths. Bought some chips too because salt cravings.

Had dinner with Emma and her visiting parents on Friday night, we went to The Depot on beaumont st. Used ent book vouchers. It's a classy place. I wore my new pants :)

Anyway I made it to the weekend. And what glorious weather! JK suggested we go out for dumplings for lunch so we used an ent book voucher for Dumpling Story and they do a shan dong chicken style dish! And it was very good food. Then we went back to her place and lay in the sunny back yard eating baklava and drinking tea and reading about the church and mental health.

My mega tray of poppies has heaps of buds. Watching poppies pop is fascinating. The shell pops off almost as you watch it. It took less than half an hour to go from a closed bud to free petals.

On Sunday I was on church dinner with home group. It was a triumph of catering. We were like a special ops team, cooking and chopping, and had just the right amount for the 100 or so people. Got through 84 bread rolls and almost 1kg rice, and didn't have too much of the stews left over.

The last week I have enjoyed being healthy. I restarted lunchtime walks and did 3 tiffs after work. Went to home group and music practice. Worked every day. So much appreciation for a healthy body.

On Thursday at work J said "i'm obsessed with this thing but maybe I dreamed it, cadbury chocolate with four types of mint, I keep going to IGA but I can't find it" and I was like yeah, there are only two types of mint so definitely a weird dream, and then M said "I saw an ad for it!" so we researched it, and turns out it is at Coles. After music practice I at like 9pm I did a trip in to Coles and got it for us. It was so worth it. It was the most excitement and joy I've seen from J in ages. The three of us had morning tea together and dissected it. It's been over a month since our office fourth was diagnosed with all sorts of bad cancer, he's now had his 2nd chemo, and it's just been a sadness and much quieter without him. So I'm glad we did this.

Other news: We have Netflix back on because it's holidays, and I'm watching Grimm.

I'm going splits in a membership to the Barefoot Investor's Blueprint group, which is something I've pondered for about 5 years. Right now it seems overwhelming, but I have no shares and some cash I could invest, so hopefully I get a bit more educated and do something useful with the money. I've also discovered a few good Aussie podcasts about money. So I'm listening to the back catalogues and it's great, all the blah blah blah economics from the news (not that I follow the news anymore) sounds so much more relevant. I recommend the Money Cafe which is just Alan Kohler and James Kirby chatting in a cafe, but there are a few others out there from radio national and fairfax that are very informative. Along with a book Ann Marie lent me called The Art of Frugal Hedonism I'm doing a lot of thinking about money at the moment. I've got a secret facebook group with a few friends in it called Girls Talk Money, which I hope is a good place for single women to ask questions and bounce ideas. Money is a tricky thing to talk about because of pride, envy and shame, but it's a huge part of life and very much affected by following Jesus.


I'm trying to do some piano and cello practice regularly again. Cello because I'm starting lessons again in term 3, so I need my callouses back. And piano because I felt like playing classical again, and you need to practice that stuff. So many things I want to do and so few hours outside of work.