For awhile now I have been a faithful "stumbler". I have enjoyed putting in my interests and having random websites selected for me to view based on what I enjoy. I have found so many wonderful websites with all sorts of crafty tutorials and also funny websites with all sorts of animals and humans doing silly things.
However - I have now discovered Pinterest! How awesome is it to be able to have a virtual pinboard to be able to post photos of my favorite things and ideas from websites to be able to easily access them whenever I am ready to do them! You can "pin" things from politics to crafts, music to photography, kids ideas to weddings. It is really awesome!
So I now have a new addiction to manage...
Follow me!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Imagine
**WARNING - CONTENT MAY SHOCK AND UPSET. UNSUITABLE FOR CHILDREN TO READ**
Imagine.
You take your 2yr old overseas to a country such as Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, India on holiday. You are having a fantastic time seeing all the sights and meeting the wonderful locals who are always smiling and friendly, willing to go to extremes to make you comfortable.
One day you head out to visit a busy crowded place. Being a crowded place you decide not to take your pram so you take turns carrying your 2yr old. While looking at wares in one stall, both you and your husband think the other is watching your child. In the blink of an eye - he's gone.
For you - this equals terror. Panic. Sickness.
For your child - it's much worse.
The man who grabbed your child has covered his or her mouth with a cloth with some sort of chemical on it to put them to sleep. They jump into a car and ride off with him.
He wakes up awhile later, finding himself in a tiny room - no bigger than most walk-in closets. It's dark and he's scared. He starts to cry.
"Mum! Dada!"
He doesn't know where you are but soon his cries attract attention.
The door opens and in walks a talk figure who smells like beer. He hits your son, making him cry even more for you. The man starts to speak roughly in a strange language. Your child can't understand why you aren't there to comfort him and protect him.
Then the man starts to undo his pants...
What follows are several hours of your child being brutally assaulted by several people. All get sick pleasure from your child's cries for help, his cries for mama and Dada.
Your child falls asleep, exhausted from fighting back and nostrils full of mucus from his numerous tears. He hurts in places he shouldn't hurt. His eyes are swollen shut from the punches and the tears. But it doesn't matter - it's so dark in his tiny hole that he wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.
Several hours later, the door opens again to a tall figure. He starts to cry for Mama again...
And that's where you wake up... to hear your child, safe in his room, crying out for Mum to get him a bottle.
How do you feel? Are you crying? What would you do if this really happened to your child? How would you cope? How would he or she cope?
Yes, it was just a dream... at least it is for you.
While in Cambodia 3 years ago, I had the privilege of meeting 5 young girls aged between 7-14 years old. Each of these young girls had been rescued from the sex slave trade.Snatched, stolen, sold by poor families in order to feed the other 8 children, sold by relatives who didn't care about them as long as their own children were safe.
One particular young girl, the youngest at age 7, caught my attention. She was the most beautiful young girl. Gorgeous long hair, happy shy smile. She was rescued 3 years earlier. That's right. She was 4yrs old when she was rescued. I didn't catch how long she had been a slave but for many of these girls it is from when they were toddlers, even infants.
Yet still, she smiles. We hand her a pretty doll with a special sparkly dress on. Her eye's light up and she spends the rest of the time with us just stroking the pretty dolly's hair and hugging her. She's just 7.
She's now safe. They all are.
No, they will never be innocent again. No, they will probably never fully heal. Yes, they will struggle with memories and the knowledge of what has happened to them for the rest of their lives.
But hey, it's not your child right.
But in case you do care...
Do something about it.
Imagine.
You take your 2yr old overseas to a country such as Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, India on holiday. You are having a fantastic time seeing all the sights and meeting the wonderful locals who are always smiling and friendly, willing to go to extremes to make you comfortable.
One day you head out to visit a busy crowded place. Being a crowded place you decide not to take your pram so you take turns carrying your 2yr old. While looking at wares in one stall, both you and your husband think the other is watching your child. In the blink of an eye - he's gone.
For you - this equals terror. Panic. Sickness.
For your child - it's much worse.
The man who grabbed your child has covered his or her mouth with a cloth with some sort of chemical on it to put them to sleep. They jump into a car and ride off with him.
He wakes up awhile later, finding himself in a tiny room - no bigger than most walk-in closets. It's dark and he's scared. He starts to cry.
"Mum! Dada!"
He doesn't know where you are but soon his cries attract attention.
The door opens and in walks a talk figure who smells like beer. He hits your son, making him cry even more for you. The man starts to speak roughly in a strange language. Your child can't understand why you aren't there to comfort him and protect him.
Then the man starts to undo his pants...
What follows are several hours of your child being brutally assaulted by several people. All get sick pleasure from your child's cries for help, his cries for mama and Dada.
Your child falls asleep, exhausted from fighting back and nostrils full of mucus from his numerous tears. He hurts in places he shouldn't hurt. His eyes are swollen shut from the punches and the tears. But it doesn't matter - it's so dark in his tiny hole that he wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.
Several hours later, the door opens again to a tall figure. He starts to cry for Mama again...
And that's where you wake up... to hear your child, safe in his room, crying out for Mum to get him a bottle.
How do you feel? Are you crying? What would you do if this really happened to your child? How would you cope? How would he or she cope?
Yes, it was just a dream... at least it is for you.
While in Cambodia 3 years ago, I had the privilege of meeting 5 young girls aged between 7-14 years old. Each of these young girls had been rescued from the sex slave trade.Snatched, stolen, sold by poor families in order to feed the other 8 children, sold by relatives who didn't care about them as long as their own children were safe.
One particular young girl, the youngest at age 7, caught my attention. She was the most beautiful young girl. Gorgeous long hair, happy shy smile. She was rescued 3 years earlier. That's right. She was 4yrs old when she was rescued. I didn't catch how long she had been a slave but for many of these girls it is from when they were toddlers, even infants.
Yet still, she smiles. We hand her a pretty doll with a special sparkly dress on. Her eye's light up and she spends the rest of the time with us just stroking the pretty dolly's hair and hugging her. She's just 7.
She's now safe. They all are.
No, they will never be innocent again. No, they will probably never fully heal. Yes, they will struggle with memories and the knowledge of what has happened to them for the rest of their lives.
But hey, it's not your child right.
But in case you do care...
Do something about it.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Frugal Food Challenge - Day 1 - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Having only decided to create this challenge at about 2pm today, I headed off to the supermarket to get our groceries - you can read about it here.
I must say - I was pretty excited with the grocery bill and I am very enthusiastic to complete this challenge with great recipes made on a low budget.
Tonight I decided to try a meal I have never made before - Spaghetti and Meatballs. After having a quick look in the Edmonds Cookbook I decided that I would base my recipe on this however with several changes.
Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
500g minced meat (I used mince beef but pork or turkey would work as well)
1T oil
2 carrots
400g linguine pasta
700g tomato puree
1 egg
3/4C breadcrumbs
1/2T mixed herbs
salt and pepper
Ok here are the steps....
My ingredients.
Preheat oven to 200* Celsius. In a mixing bowl combine mince, breadcrumbs, 1/2 the onion finely chopped, 1 finely chopped clove of garlic, 1/4C tomato puree, 2 carrots grated. Mix well.
In separate bowl whisk egg and then add to mince mixture and mix well.
REMOVE ANY RINGS! VERY IMPORTANT!
Using a tablespoon, scoop out some mixture and use your hands to form a ball shape. Now you understand why you need to remove your rings! Not pretty if you ignore that step!
Cover 1 or 2 baking trays with baking paper and place balls on top. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until cooked through.
Take two pots. In a large one, bring approx 1L of water to boil. Once water is boiling, add the pasta.
In smaller pot, add 1T of oil. Once oil is warm, add remaining clove of garlic finely chopped and remaining half of onion, also finely chopped. Cook until clear and slightly golden. Mmm smell the yummyness!
Add to the onion and garlic pot the rest of the tomato puree and 1T mixed herbs. Bring to boil and then simmer for 8-10 mins.
Take a quick break, find a cute kid and watch them play with the cat while stealing kisses and cuddles...
Back to the kitchen. Place cooked pasta in casserole dish and top with cooked meatballs.
Cover with your pasta sauce...
Top with some cheese if you have a cheese loving family like mine and place in the oven for 10 mins before switching to grill for another few minutes until cheese is nice and grilled.
Now you can replace your rings - Doesn't my hubby have good style? I love my wedding rings :)
Ohhh doesn't that just make you want to eat right now! I already had a huge bowl and now want some more just looking at it!
Dish up and enjoy!
Note: If you choose to make this dish - be prepared to eat it all in one night - there will be none left for tomorrows lunch!!
The Frugal Food Challenge
I promised awhile ago (I think it was my first post over 6 months ago!) that I would post on how I manage to feed a family of 3 on $50 or so a week. Well, with times as they are, this week I have set myself a challenge....
THE CHALLENGE: To feed our household of 4 adults and 3 children for $80 for 7 days.
THE HOUSEHOLD:
The Money-Saving Mum - Me
The Handsome Husband
The Ticklish Toddler (comes with mouth full of mandarin...)
Our boarders:
The enthusiastic eight year old
The spunky six year old
Their Mum - the camera-shy sweet-heart
Our friend - the also camera-shy chicky-babe
Ok - time to head off to buy the groceries!
Ticklish Toddler and I in the car at Spud Shed - our supermarket of choice for this challenge due to their warehouse style premises and low prices due to absence of fancy fitting etc...
Find them here....
Time to get a trolley...
The reason I love this place is their insane cheap prices and no-frills policy. I can usually get all my groceries here including toilet paper (although only one brand available), meat, fruit and vege, milk products, frozen food, canned food, bread.... About the only thing I need to go to the 'real' supermarkets for are dish washing liquid, soap, shampoo etc and cat food!
5KG bag of carrots = $1.50
2KG bag of onions = $0.99
2L milk = $1.69 - granted I usually pay much more for it here - $1.79! Gee it's hard.... LOL
Great special this week - Pasta of many kinds = $0.69
Ticklish Toddler with our load - plus a bike and car toy - gotta have the car toy!
So here are our purchases!
TOTAL: $66.45 !!
YES!!!!
So I have $13.55 left in the kitty for extra milk and bread as we need it this week.
Woohooo!
Here are some of the standout buys:
- Milk 2L - $1.69
- Pasta - macaroni and linguine - $0.69 each for 500g
- Cabbage - $0.99 each
- Tomato Puree 700g - $1.49
- Mince meat - $6.99kg
- Carrots 5kg bag - $1.50
- Bread - white, toast, wholegrain, multi-grain - $0.99/loaf
I will be posting one post per day telling you all how we are coping and giving you a 'recipe of the day'.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Child's Pencil Roll Tutorial
Well, well, well... It's about time I posted a new tutorial!
So here we go - first of all - much thanks to my hubby who took some lovely photos of my un-manicured hands during the process of making this pencil roll in order for me to document this tutorial for you!
I was asked to make 8 pencil rolls for a friend's 8yr old daughter's birthday party as presents for the guests. Gladly I jumped at the chance to finally work with some real girly fabric after making things for my little boy! Kelly provided all the materials and my job was simply to make them up.
Kelly chose a rich purple drill for the inside and a gorgeous cupcake fabric for the print! I love it! Add some ribbon with love hearts on it and its time to get girly!
In total you will need:
19" x 13" of print fabric
19" x 13" of a thicker fabric such as drill or broadcloth
20" of ribbon (about 1cm wide works best)
scissors, complementary thread, sewing machine, ruler, self-healing mat (to cut fabric on), iron and ironing board.
First thing to do is cut your fabric. I cut one from each of the materials of a 9" by 19" rectangle and a 4" by 19" rectangle.
With right sides facing, sew along all 4 side of the smaller rectangles leaving a small gap wide enough to put two fingers in to turn the piece inside out.
Top stitch all the way around once you have turned your material right side out, making sure to turn under the edges of the gap as you do so to include them. Set aside this piece and take your other rectangles.
Take your smaller rectangle and place it on top of the larger rectangle - plain sides facing each other. Top stitch the entire way around joining the rectangles together.
Starting at the long top-stitched side, sew straight lines approx 1.5cm (wider if you plan to put wider pencils or crayons in the roll) to the end of the printed fabric. Make sure to secure your stitching either by back-stitching at each end or if you are lucky enough to have a fancy machine that will do it for you :)
Take your ribbon and cut approx 20". Fold it in half and stitch it down on the right inside of the roll.
NOTE: if you have ribbon like mine which has a pattern only on one side - make sure you stitch it down inside out unlike mine otherwise when you tie it you won't be able to see the pattern when you tie it up.
And ta-da! You are finished! Look how pretty!
Now insert some kiddie coloured pencils - I only had boring adult pens :( ...
And roll up and tie and you have a fancy pencil/crayon roll ready for any little girl (or boy) who loves to draw!
Well there it is. One pencil roll. Now to complete the other 7...
If you would like to check out Kelly's blog, head on over to her site.
So here we go - first of all - much thanks to my hubby who took some lovely photos of my un-manicured hands during the process of making this pencil roll in order for me to document this tutorial for you!
I was asked to make 8 pencil rolls for a friend's 8yr old daughter's birthday party as presents for the guests. Gladly I jumped at the chance to finally work with some real girly fabric after making things for my little boy! Kelly provided all the materials and my job was simply to make them up.
Kelly chose a rich purple drill for the inside and a gorgeous cupcake fabric for the print! I love it! Add some ribbon with love hearts on it and its time to get girly!
In total you will need:
19" x 13" of print fabric
19" x 13" of a thicker fabric such as drill or broadcloth
20" of ribbon (about 1cm wide works best)
scissors, complementary thread, sewing machine, ruler, self-healing mat (to cut fabric on), iron and ironing board.
First thing to do is cut your fabric. I cut one from each of the materials of a 9" by 19" rectangle and a 4" by 19" rectangle.
Make sure to iron out your fabric after you cut it to remove all fold marks and wrinkles - it's much easier to sew with flat fabric!
Top stitch all the way around once you have turned your material right side out, making sure to turn under the edges of the gap as you do so to include them. Set aside this piece and take your other rectangles.
Complete the same steps as above with your larger pieces without top-stitching. Iron both of your newly finished rectangles.
Take your smaller rectangle and place it on top of the larger rectangle - plain sides facing each other. Top stitch the entire way around joining the rectangles together.
Starting at the long top-stitched side, sew straight lines approx 1.5cm (wider if you plan to put wider pencils or crayons in the roll) to the end of the printed fabric. Make sure to secure your stitching either by back-stitching at each end or if you are lucky enough to have a fancy machine that will do it for you :)
NOTE: if you have ribbon like mine which has a pattern only on one side - make sure you stitch it down inside out unlike mine otherwise when you tie it you won't be able to see the pattern when you tie it up.
And ta-da! You are finished! Look how pretty!
Now insert some kiddie coloured pencils - I only had boring adult pens :( ...
And roll up and tie and you have a fancy pencil/crayon roll ready for any little girl (or boy) who loves to draw!
Well there it is. One pencil roll. Now to complete the other 7...
If you would like to check out Kelly's blog, head on over to her site.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
To start anew
Laziness.
It's something I admit I struggle with. That's right - I'm coming right out and saying it.
I find it hard to be motivated lately in many areas of my life - doing dishes, organizing my home, finishing long ago started projects, getting paperwork in some sort of order instead of being scattered in 5 different places around the house....
All that is about to change.
I am currently on a 4 week holiday in New Zealand. Our holiday has three purposes - to allow my in-laws to see their growing grandson, to be close to family and friends after the Christchurch earthquake which caused so much devastation and grief, and to be there to celebrate my little sister's wedding in early April. We are currently on day 14 of 29 days of holiday and I must say I feel like I am being refreshed.
I didn't realise until I got here how wound up, stressed and tired I was. It has been so long since I have just stopped and relaxed instead of concentrating on work, housework, grocery shopping and just breathed. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my hunched over shoulders. I feel like I am (nearly) ready to start making some positive steps forward with life.
And I have a plan....
- to blog twice a week. Reason: to help me sort out my thoughts and ideas and to hopefully give some encouragement and inspiration to others as I have received myself.
- to buy a large bookcase from Ikea with lots of square shelve spaces. Reason: to provide some much needed storage for our house and to organise our paperwork into magazine boxes so we can actually find the insurance policies, bills, log in details... when we need them.
- to prioritize James. Reason: do I need one??
- to make a list and plan of all the creative ideas I have and have found through others. Reason: I have way too many ideas running around in my head and several of them who have already escaped and need to actually start doing some of them and remember them.
- to start receiving an "allowance" or "housekeeping" from Nick. Reason: I have a spending problem! Particularly when it comes to crafty finds.... My "housekeeping" money will cover groceries, nappies, basic household needs (eg new shoes for James, new tea towels etc) and anything I am able to save by managing the money well and living simply and miserly will be mine to spend on what I like eg crafty stuff!
- to really start to get our finances in order and start to seriously save for our travel plans next year. Reason: I want to go to the UK as well as Canada and we can only do both if we save seriously! (we are going to Canada for a family wedding and would LOVE to stop in the UK on the way back...)
- to draw closer to God. Reason: because He is a wonderful amazing God who is waiting patiently for me to draw near to Him so He can show me what He has created me for. I want to live in a way that is glorifying to Him and is setting an example for our son and others around me.
As you can see - there are a lot of things I am planning to do. I know this won't all happen overnight but with prayer, discipline and encouragement I know I can get there.
What does this mean for you?
- two weekly blogs. One is a crafty project of the week either that I have done or I have found to encourage you all to create. The second is a weekly musing of general goings on in the Dight household and in general around the world. This could be a frugal tip I have found, a lesson I have learnt, a photo or video that has touched me, an amusing (hopefully) anecdote of something that has happened.
- a more organised (and clean!) house to visit
- a better friend to have
So here's to new beginnings! Pray for me!
xx Alison
It's something I admit I struggle with. That's right - I'm coming right out and saying it.
I find it hard to be motivated lately in many areas of my life - doing dishes, organizing my home, finishing long ago started projects, getting paperwork in some sort of order instead of being scattered in 5 different places around the house....
All that is about to change.
I am currently on a 4 week holiday in New Zealand. Our holiday has three purposes - to allow my in-laws to see their growing grandson, to be close to family and friends after the Christchurch earthquake which caused so much devastation and grief, and to be there to celebrate my little sister's wedding in early April. We are currently on day 14 of 29 days of holiday and I must say I feel like I am being refreshed.
I didn't realise until I got here how wound up, stressed and tired I was. It has been so long since I have just stopped and relaxed instead of concentrating on work, housework, grocery shopping and just breathed. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my hunched over shoulders. I feel like I am (nearly) ready to start making some positive steps forward with life.
And I have a plan....
- to blog twice a week. Reason: to help me sort out my thoughts and ideas and to hopefully give some encouragement and inspiration to others as I have received myself.
- to buy a large bookcase from Ikea with lots of square shelve spaces. Reason: to provide some much needed storage for our house and to organise our paperwork into magazine boxes so we can actually find the insurance policies, bills, log in details... when we need them.
- to prioritize James. Reason: do I need one??
- to make a list and plan of all the creative ideas I have and have found through others. Reason: I have way too many ideas running around in my head and several of them who have already escaped and need to actually start doing some of them and remember them.
- to start receiving an "allowance" or "housekeeping" from Nick. Reason: I have a spending problem! Particularly when it comes to crafty finds.... My "housekeeping" money will cover groceries, nappies, basic household needs (eg new shoes for James, new tea towels etc) and anything I am able to save by managing the money well and living simply and miserly will be mine to spend on what I like eg crafty stuff!
- to really start to get our finances in order and start to seriously save for our travel plans next year. Reason: I want to go to the UK as well as Canada and we can only do both if we save seriously! (we are going to Canada for a family wedding and would LOVE to stop in the UK on the way back...)
- to draw closer to God. Reason: because He is a wonderful amazing God who is waiting patiently for me to draw near to Him so He can show me what He has created me for. I want to live in a way that is glorifying to Him and is setting an example for our son and others around me.
As you can see - there are a lot of things I am planning to do. I know this won't all happen overnight but with prayer, discipline and encouragement I know I can get there.
What does this mean for you?
- two weekly blogs. One is a crafty project of the week either that I have done or I have found to encourage you all to create. The second is a weekly musing of general goings on in the Dight household and in general around the world. This could be a frugal tip I have found, a lesson I have learnt, a photo or video that has touched me, an amusing (hopefully) anecdote of something that has happened.
- a more organised (and clean!) house to visit
- a better friend to have
So here's to new beginnings! Pray for me!
xx Alison
Friday, November 19, 2010
Discipline...
How do you discipline a 15 month old?
James is starting to get to that "temper tantrum" stage at the moment. Anything from not wanting to eat his breakfast, to getting his nappy changed, taking something off him, putting the cat outside can start a tantrum. How do I deal with this?
This morning James needed his nappy changed as I could detect a whiff of number 2's inside. After searching the house for the elusive box of homemade wet wipes that always manages to disappear when you need it, I took James into his bedroom to change him. We have always changed James either on the floor or bed as we didn't feel the need to go to the extra expense of a change table. After struggling to lie him down I proceeded to attempt to take off his nappy. James put on an award winning performance of a victim of the "Jaws" movie getting eaten by a shark, thrashing from side to side, screaming as if in agony, pellets of poop flying. I tried in vain to calm him down and stop the mess until finally I did what I have never wanted to do. I smacked him on the thigh. Shock. Horror. I can't believe I just did that.
I am not against smacking as a discipline method but personally have wanted to avoid it. From my experience with other children who have been smacked they tend to then smack others when things don't go their way or they get frustrated. I wanted to try and avoid this scenario.
Although I didn't smack very hard, soon little pink finger marks showed on his little thigh. James had stopped thrashing about and was just lying still crying. I quickly finished changing him and then picked him up and comforted him, apologizing and feeling wretched. Within moments he was his happy, giggly self again and ran off to play with his tractor. I was left sitting there feeling like the worst mother in the world.
And so I am left with the problem. How do you discipline a child who is barely speaking (other than Mummy, Daddy, Kitty, Cat, Star, Car, Cup and Ta) and expect them to understand you? A friend suggested a time out. This may just work for James. My new project is to make a 'time-out' mat. I will use this mat to place him on for a minute per age (e.g. 1 min at the moment). It will be a mat that can be easily transported so that when we visit Nana and Poppa we can bring it with us.
Stay tuned for the tutorial including photos! Wish me luck!
James is starting to get to that "temper tantrum" stage at the moment. Anything from not wanting to eat his breakfast, to getting his nappy changed, taking something off him, putting the cat outside can start a tantrum. How do I deal with this?
This morning James needed his nappy changed as I could detect a whiff of number 2's inside. After searching the house for the elusive box of homemade wet wipes that always manages to disappear when you need it, I took James into his bedroom to change him. We have always changed James either on the floor or bed as we didn't feel the need to go to the extra expense of a change table. After struggling to lie him down I proceeded to attempt to take off his nappy. James put on an award winning performance of a victim of the "Jaws" movie getting eaten by a shark, thrashing from side to side, screaming as if in agony, pellets of poop flying. I tried in vain to calm him down and stop the mess until finally I did what I have never wanted to do. I smacked him on the thigh. Shock. Horror. I can't believe I just did that.
I am not against smacking as a discipline method but personally have wanted to avoid it. From my experience with other children who have been smacked they tend to then smack others when things don't go their way or they get frustrated. I wanted to try and avoid this scenario.
Although I didn't smack very hard, soon little pink finger marks showed on his little thigh. James had stopped thrashing about and was just lying still crying. I quickly finished changing him and then picked him up and comforted him, apologizing and feeling wretched. Within moments he was his happy, giggly self again and ran off to play with his tractor. I was left sitting there feeling like the worst mother in the world.
And so I am left with the problem. How do you discipline a child who is barely speaking (other than Mummy, Daddy, Kitty, Cat, Star, Car, Cup and Ta) and expect them to understand you? A friend suggested a time out. This may just work for James. My new project is to make a 'time-out' mat. I will use this mat to place him on for a minute per age (e.g. 1 min at the moment). It will be a mat that can be easily transported so that when we visit Nana and Poppa we can bring it with us.
Stay tuned for the tutorial including photos! Wish me luck!
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