Simply Saturday

It is the Long Weekend for Anzac day. I have been busy and productive doing the kind of things we need to do to manage a simple lifestyle:

• Downloaded transactions from my bank accounts and credit card accounts, to examine carefully what we are spending our money on, and to budget the next month
• purchased a few things on special from Woolworths nearby -on the way stopped at a local bulk supplier to purchase some rolled rye and flaky coconut for our home-made Muesli.
  
• Checked out helpful hints from websites which are committed to simple lifestyles, added good tips to my spreadsheet of helpful hints
• moved earth around in preparation for planting some temporary plantings in our front garden. The plan is eventually to redevelop the garden, moving the driveway and carport etc but we have had to defer the plans for about 2 years, so we have decided to go for the 'cheap and cheerful' approach. I raided the rest of the garden for self-sown lavenders, rosemary cuttings that have self-layered themselves and grown roots, and daisies that can be divided and spread around. Total cost was $0 so far, but we think we need to purchase some wetting agent for our extremely hydrophobic soils.
  
• spent some time with our aging relatives -had a good time with laughter and a nice roast dinner
• done some cleaning and tidying around the house but there is always more to do
• shopped at the local opshop and came home with 3 tiny plates to add to my plate collection. Total cost $9.
• I have used my guillotine to cut up the old greeting cards I have been collecting. I saved the pretty illustrations in a box ready to use to make new greeting cards. This has reduced the clutter around my desk, and is recycling the cards. It saves me money when I want to send a card to someone. I plan to write a thank you card later today for someone who gave me a free ticket to a lovely WASO concert on Thursday night last.

Still to do -collect our repaired old-fashioned clock from a friend, and treat the garden with wetting agent.

Hubby is cooking risotto for dinner -yum! All it takes is some chicken stock made from the bones of a previous roast dinner, a lemon from our tree, some parmesan cheese and arborio rice. We will serve it with a green salad made from the leaves we grow in our garden.