New Years Resolutions.

Not one, but five! I'm a big fan of resolving to do good things, cos even if you fail you probably get some good out of it in the short term. And a few years ago on Jan 1st I started one of those read the Bible in a year plans, and I did it. A resolved resolution! It can be done. So this is what I need discipline for this year.

1 Not think about food unless it is really exciting food
2 Read the Bible EVERY DAY
3 Pray also
4 Read one edifying book every month
5 Practise hospitality

Christmas Eve 2009.

Thanks for reading! We've had a lot of fun with Jelssie this year. Have a lovely Christmas and remember God incarnate.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Looking forward to seeing you next year!

Love Jess and Elsie

Pre Christmas Pre New Year Pre Summer School Pre Moving House post:

1. Make lots of lists

2. Send lots of emails

3. Go AAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Why saving is bad.

I'm a good saver. I hoard a bit. Sometimes I buy or I'm given things that I perceive as "too good to use". So they become junk and clutter. Which is such a waste! Instead of wearing a nice pair of earrings I keep them safe in their box until they are out of fashion, a total waste of fashion and space. Much better to use them for their purpose and let them really live, until they are lost or broken when I can get rid of them with a sense of satisfaction.

Freeze to prevent spillage

I'm not a great fruit eater. My flatmate left me a mango and two kiwi fruit before she went overseas (I love mango!). I had a couple of nectarines that came all the way from Woolies, Port Macquarie. To help me eat them all, I decided to turn them into a salad. I diced everything up and it looked delicious and juicy.

"I'll take some to work," I thought. "But what am I going to do about the inevitable fruit-juice-spillage-while-carrying-salad-on-the-way-to-work?"

Ding!

"I knows!" I thoughts. "I'll freeze it! That way it can't spill at all, and I can leave it to defrost at work. And if it's a particularly hot day, I can have a nice slushy treat!"

How to throw things out.

Elsie is on holiday at the moment so I'm not sure if she'll be posting, but in the spirit of Elsie I am posting on de-cluttering, one of her favourite things. As I get ready to (hopefully) move house, I am doing a lot of it.

My new rule for de-cluttering is: if you only ever see an object when you do a clean out, chuck it away. My normal pattern is to find it, admire it, relive the memories, and then put it back away until next time I do a clean out. Now the hard rule is chuck it.

There is a book at my parents house which is just below the Bible in importance. It is full of wisdom and revelation. It is The Messies Manual. It is a book about cleaning, for messy people! Because messy people think about mess very differently to cleany people. For example, 'Frugal Messies' keep junk they don't need just in case one day they do need it. For slightly 'Sentimental Messies' like me, junk isn't just junk, every piece of junk has a lot of associated memories, and when you find the junk, all the memories come back, and you can't throw out the junk because you are throwing out the memories.

So having realised that all I want is the memory, not the junk, I am now taking photographs of my junk as I throw it out.

Rental Conspiracy.

Sometime in the mid-late 90s, apartment block builders of the Eastern Suburbs all put their heads together and decided that every block of flats I ever inspect should be built to face west.

The limit of the internet.

Don't know where I will live after 10 January 2010 due to lease ending and housemates leaving.

Faced with this dreadful uncertainty and feeling a burning desire to know, I find myself going to Google, and then realising Google can't tell me that. Stupid internet, doesn't know the future.

Big dates in history

Today, checking through my 2008 diary for useful information I need to save before I throw it out, I noticed the following significant entry on Tuesday 27 May:

I haven't seen a grey since then, but I wish I had marked the first anniversary this year.

Scuffy heels

I've noticed I have identical scuff marks on the heels of my high heels (grr). See how there's an exposed white bit?















I wonder how it is that I'm causing them. Is it because when I walk on soft grass, the heel sinks into the ground and when I pull it out, it gets scuffed? Or am I scraping my heels against concrete steps or something? Anyone know?

I'm kind of annoyed, but I'm sure not that many people are looking at the heels of my heels ('cept you now will, dear reader).

Blue da ba dee da ba die

I reached into my handbag and realised...















...it's not just red that I dig.

How to get a longer weekend!

I'm not a huge sleeper-inner. On weekends I sleep till 9.30 or so. But, there is no real need for me to sleep in, because I get good hours of sleep all week— so I don't need a catch-up, it's just the luxury of waking up in my own time.

But, if I get up at a normal weekday time on the weekend, I get an extra 2 hours each day! The weekend is effectively 4 hours longer! 4 hours of precious weekend daylight. It's amazing, having that extra time.

Summertime clothing

Given our high rates of skin cancer and our nation's high exposure to UV rays, Australians should adopt ways of dressing similar to Arab men. Think Lawrence of Arabia and long, flowing white garments.

I like how in that kind of dressing, the vast majority of their skin is covered including the neck, the arms and the legs.

I would like to cover my arms, legs and neck more during summer, but I can't help but associate long sleeved clothing and pants with winter. I don't think I have summer-appropriate long sleeved clothing. Someone should design a range. In the meantime, I'll do my best to remember to put SPF 30+ broad spectrum on my skin each day.

Scientists should:

Invent an elastic that lasts forever and never loses its stretchiness. And then make certain small items of clothing out of it. And then women won't have to do their least favourite sort of shopping as often.

Challenge 3: Spice Neon Chicken.

Four challengers met last Friday at Sydney Spice Chicken Pot. The exterior is promising, as Elsie pointed out, there is a neon chicken which is a rooster.

Inside, it turns out to be a hot pot place. The tables have 2 levels, you have bowls and the hotplate on the top of course, and on the shelf below (where we mistakenly put our handbags with great excitement at the convenience) you put the little bowls of raw ingredients for when you need to add them to the pot.

Anyway, the menu was a little confusing at first. It has some english, thankfully, but it comes in the form of a checklist which you tick boxes and hand in to the waitress. The waitresses were very helpful explaining it all.

We ordered a Chicken Hot Pot for $33 which was plenty for the 4 of us. It was surprisingly spicy, only just bearable for some of us, so we asked for more water to be added. The chicken is a lot of bones and knobbles. Not much that you can just put straight in your mouth. But lots of it and definitely tasty.

As they top up the water you then add the other little things you ordered by the bowlfull. Like, rice noodles, cabbage, tofu, skinny white mushrooms, dumplings and I forget what else. We ended up eating too much (well I ate too much), but that is normal for hot pot.

It cost about $15 each. Pretty good value. Obvious why it is so popular with the students during semester.

We decided that we wouldn't come rushing back, but probably in the winter it is a really good place to go when you want some spicy hot pot.

Christian office dress codes.

Monday weekly meeting with boss.

First item on the agenda was my dress.

Well, the aircon is fierce, and I have no jumper with me.

Apparently this sort of footwear reinforces negative Christian stereotypes.

So how am I supposed to wash 'em?

Laundry. I sort them into warm wash and cold wash.

Hence this label on my new $15 Target jeans is confusing.

Can you read it? In green it says THINK CLIMATE COLD WASH & LINE DRY. Then further on it says WARM MACHINE WASH SEPARATELY.

So how am I supposed to wash you jeans? Does it matter either way?

Using every last bit

So you think you've reached the end of your product. You can't squeeze anymore lotion or cream out.

That's when I get my "holy" knife for some action. I have set apart a knife to be my "cut-through-plastic" only knife.

And voila! You can now use the product that was trapped and could not be squeezed out :) See, there's quite a bit left, even though I couldn't squeeze it out.

Don't expose your product to air continuously if possible - that will dry it out.

Target sets new standard for bargain jeans

Jeans are a staple in my wardrobe. I could wear them to work all the time and I usually wear them in winter.

If you look at one of the lists to the left, you will see that Jess and I have Esprit jeans in common. Meaning we love them. The most flattering cut of jeans I have ever owned are Esprit jeans. Sadly they have started to wear and I am not sure I can patch them up.

I have paid $50-$80 each for my last three pairs of jeans (Saba, cK, Esprit) and then another $10 to get them hemmed up.

But tonight, I picked up two pairs of jeans (one straight leg, one bootcut) for $15 each at Target!

Good points:

• The cuts are reasonably flattering (I think, but if I'm wrong, do tell me. That's what a true friend would do [in a loving manner mind you :P]),

• they seem to be the right length (meaning I save $10 per pair in not having to get them altered),

• very cheap,

• and I like the colour of the denim.

I'm not sure about the quality. Time will tell.

So Target, if your jeans turn out to be good quality over time, you have set my new standard for bargain jeans.

Bonus tip! I have also learned that if you look bad in one brand's bootcut, it doesn't mean you look bad in every brand's bootcut. Frustrating because it means you can't stick to one cut if you want to keep jeans shopping simple. Liberating because it means you have more to choose from.

Dogs in costumes.

Dogs in jackets and shoes are pretty dumb, but this costume I saw in the Courier is AWESOME.

ETS.

I'm not sad for the death of the Emissions Trading Scheme. Trading pollution is moving the pollution around, and mostly moving the money around, hoping that somewhere along the way the pollution is reduced. That's my limited understanding of the matter, anyway.

Not that I have a better plan, except to live frugally and wait for the new earth.

The honeycomb divide.

Violet Crumble used to be my favourite chocolate bar. Maybe because it was the biggest. Value is important. Then somehow, Crunchie took the place of favourite honeycomb based chocolate bar.

You know how a Crunchie has a hard dense side and a light bubbly side? I always bite the hard side first so I can save up the bubbly side. Violet Crumble is light and dense with no bubbly bit.

I was thinking of switching back to Violet Crumble, to relive the good times. I had a Violet Crumble this week, and it wasn't that good. The only thing that impressed me was that I ate half and then left it for a few days and the honeycomb didn't dissolve from exposure to humidity the way I expected. But I'll never go back.

Kingsford Challenge 3!

This Friday, 4 December at 6:30. Probably the last challenge this year! Awww.

We are going to Sydney Spice Chicken Pot, it is a very asian place without much english in the signage, bright red signage, trendy seating.

Sorry I don't have as many email addresses as I used to so you will all have to find out from this blog.