I have been living with no internet connection for the most part of a week. Let me tell you, it sucks.  I can quite happily go tech free for weeks at a time when we’re camping. At home it’s different though. There a lots of things I need to be distracted from here.  Like ironing. And washing. And ironing. And vacuuming. And ironing.

Here is a a little plea for help I wrote while avoiding the, um, ironing …

I have no internet.  Actually, it’s worse than that.  I have a teasingly sporadic internet connection.  On for two minutes, off for thirty.  I’m going crazy.  I sit here hitting the refresh button hoping that I’ll catch a two minute phase.  Then I get cranky and it’s all I can do not to stomp on my laptop.

On a positive note, the washing is done, most of the kitchen cupboards have been decluttered and the floors are clean.  That’s good.  And bad.  It’s bad because it is glaring proof that I spend too much time online.

Aside from reading fab blogs, checking out beautiful pics on Redbubble and catching up on Facebook, I can’t believe all the little things I can’t do without an internet connection.  When did I become so reliant?

I can’t balance our budget because I can’t download our transactions.  I had to scour my recipe books for ages instead of getting instant gratification from typing “slow cooker recipes” into Google.  And who is that chick in Enchanted?  I need to know!

Save me Telstra!!

Well, save me they did. You won’t often hear a good word about Telstra from me (something to do with taking 18 months to credit back incorrect charges on my account & speaking with a gazillion people at least once a month for it to happen). But there it is, once the internet problem was referred to them it was fixed in no time. So, thank you Telstra.

PS: I still have three large piles of ironing, Telstra … so if you could just send someone over to help with that I’ll sing your praises from the mountaintops.

Image by Ma,Ka

Now that the weather’s warmer more often than it’s cold, we’ve been tempted out to the food garden.  At the moment we’re not getting much in the way of food, although hopefully that will change in the next eight weeks or so.

We have been pinching some leaves off our little iceberg lettuces for salad.  I don’t think it affects the development of the big lettuce head later, although I wouldn’t mind so much.  I prefer the loose leaves to a whole lettuce anyway.

Most of the fruit trees are done with their blossoms.  The lovely blossoms up the top of the page are on our crab apple.  I never actually do anything with them, although the kids eat them straight off the tree.  I can’t; they make me go all squinty and shivery.  But I do like the blossoms.  Lots.

The bugs have already moved in to munch on our fruit.  We’re going to try nets this year to keep the birds away.  They eat more than the bugs.

Peacherines

Fluffy peaches

Blood plums

I’m not sure what’s with our plum tree.  In five years we’ve been lucky to get 10 plums a year off it.  What you see here is about the grand total for this summer.

The vegie patch will hopefully fare a bit better.  We’re trying strawberries in the patch rather than pots this year.  I always forget to water the pots and there go the strawberries.

Mmmm, strawberries

We’ve put in carrot seedlings and seeds.  Fortunate, because The Engineer planted his beetroot right over the top of the carrot seeds.

Carrot seedlings

The peas already have a few pods on them.  What do you do when you only have a dozen peas in total?  Not a dozen pods; a dozen little rolly-polly peas.  Can I just leave them on the bush till we have enough to eat?

I love the little tendril things on the peas.  Every time I see one I want to pull it and watch it spring back to its tight little curl.

Dwarf peas

What else?  Three tomato plants – one cherry, one larger and one yellow.  That should give us a good variety for salads, sandwiches and snacks.

Cherry tomato

You might have realised by now that our food garden is based on a lot of hope and a tiny bit of know how.  We’re also restricted to watering twice a week unless we do the bucket in the shower thing.  I’m not keen on that though.  I don’t want soap and grotty bits (which don’t bear thinking about) on our vegies thank you very much.

So anything we actually get to eat is especially precious.

This week we received the Diggers Club magazine, chock full of vegetable seeds. We’ve all been flicking through the magazine trying to decide which vegies we should put in our new vegie garden.

The kids think beetroot, cauliflower and broccoli would be good. I’d like to try pumpkins, cucumber, lettuce and beans. The Thinker wants corn, although I’m not sure we’ll have enough room for that. I think the wisest way forward will be to chose the vegies that we use most of and try the easiest to grow of those first.

The Thinker has started building our vegie garden this morning. We’re starting off with one patch about 2.5m x 1.5m. We’ve been reading about no dig gardening, which appeals a great deal to us There is great excitement in our backyard, as the kids potter around and imagine our magnificent harvests.

I’m feeling very enthusiastic too. Aside from the money we’ll hopefully save, I’m looking forward to wonderful, tasty vegies that haven’t been covered in who knows what chemicals. I only hope I maintain the momentum!

Each Saturday is Smiley Saturday at Lightening Online. Go over for a visit and check out what made others smile.

Image by London Permaculture via Flickr

I read somewhere recently that the key to a simpler life was to live like it was 1940. If you ask me, life in the 1940′s was pretty tough compared to today’s standards – none of the conveniences that we have today. I’m sure if I was to live entirely like I was a 1940′s housewife I would expire within 3 days. However, there are a few qualities of retro life that we can embrace to help get us off the frantic, modern day treadmill.

1. Hang the washing on the line

Aside from the obvious benefits to the environment and your pocket, there are some less publicised benefits to hanging the washing on the line to dry.

• It’s a perfect opportunity to step outside and get some fresh air. Take a break from the buzz and humdrum inside and enjoy the sounds, sights and smells of the outdoors.
• Savour a little solitude. Sort through your thoughts, sing a song, enjoy your own company.
• There is nothing like climbing into bed freshly made with line dried sheets.

2. Get rid of some cleaning chemicals

Today there are a plethora of cleaners for every part of the house. Realistically, a house can be sparkling clean with just white vinegar, bicarb and borax.

• Look at any extra elbow grease required as a free exercise session.
• Your family and the environment will thank you (healthwise) for not using awful chemicals.

3. Recycle and reuse

Having lived through the Great Depression, families in the 1940′s were very good at recycling (although they probably didn’t call it that) and reusing.

• Reusable shopping bags will keep plastic bags out of our waterways and landfill.
• Keep glass jars and bottles to store homemade goodies or items bought in bulk (cheaper than smaller quantities)
• Put a patch on the kids’ jeans when they wear through them. They’ll be great for roughing it out in the yard.

4. Stop buying so much stuff

There are just so many things today, begging for us to buy them. It’s very easy to confuse our . Until recently people didn’t have to contend with the incessant urging of media to buy, buy, buy.

• Cut back on TV. You’ll see less ads and be less likely to feel the need to buy the latest and greatest thing.
• Try having fun without spending money. You might be surprised at the outcome.
• The less stuff you buy, the less you have to organise, clean around and fix.

5. Don’t be contactable 24/7

Believe it or not, people survived quite well before the advent of mobile phones, email and instant messaging.

• Instead of being at the beck and call of others, take some quality, uninterrupted time for yourself and those close to you.
• Give the job you’re working on the attention it deserves by turning off everything you don’t need to get it done.

It’s time to report in and see how well I’ve done in achieving the goals I set for June. I have to say that knowing I’d be writing about my goals here, for all to see, has really made me focus.

Blogging

• Write a series of posts to schedule if I am away. I’m into the brainstorming phase, but no further.
• Grow the Journeyer’s Chronicles community. There are certainly more visitors and subscribers this month. As a thank you to all my visitors and subscribers I’m running a .
• Learn to tweak my blog code. As luck woud have it, a day or two after I wrote down that goal I realised my blog looked dreadful on some browsers. I did a and learnt heaps about WordPress and themes in the process.

July Goals

• Write two posts to schedule if I am away.
• Continue to grow the Journeyer’s Chronicles community.
• Continue with blog redesign.

Family

• Finish Screamfree Parenting. I finished early last week. Unfortunately I was tied up with committee duties and didn’t get to write the review. It is now scheduled for this Friday.
• Help The Engineer with the MS Readathon. Well, he got lots of reading done. I was very keen for The Engineer to get the sponsors himself, to help him develop a bit of confidence. He was a little uneasy about doing that and only asked immediate family. As a result, he didn’t reach his target of raising $250. It was a good experience for him though and one we’ll probably do again next year.

July Goals

• Do something fun with the kids during the week, that doesn’t involve after school activities.
• Establish teamwork in regard to household tasks.

Finances

• Monitor our grocery spending. I have been keeping on top of our groceries really well. One week we went way over budget. That freaked me out a bit because there wasn’t anything I could have cut back on. However, the next week, we were well under budget so it evened out.
• Pay down our credit card balances. Right on target with this goal. The credit card gets paid along with the other bills, rather than getting the left overs as was our previous habit.
• Stick to our budget. Generally we have been doing well. As happened last month, we had to take from some budget categories to make up others. On the whole though, we are still in the black.

July goals

• Continue as for June.

Health

• Walk where possible. This is getting tougher. Winter is starting to set in and the weather has been less than pleasant. Generally, I’m getting a walk in every second day. I have been walking to appointments where I can.
• Use the exercise bike for 15 minutes every day. I have failed dismally at this one. I haven’t even taken the bike out of storage.

July goals

• Get the exercise bike out of storage!
• Set aside some quiet ME time each day.
• Write regularly in My Happy Pages.

Productivity

• Continue with Getting Things Done. I’ve been doing well with this goal. You can read my monthly GTD review .

July goals

• Organise an housework schedule and stick to it.
• Listen to/read two books.

Simple Living

• Keep my container vegie garden alive. I have peas! The wind is doing it’s best to destroy my little crop, so I may have some emergency work to do over the next few days.
• Help The Thinker build a new vegie garden. The Thinker has completed phase 1 of our new vegie garden – moving the sandpit.
• Make some reusable shopping bags to put in my handbag. I never made any shopping bags. I did, however, buy two. They were $2 at the Reject Shop and fit perfectly in my handbag. And yes, I have been using them.

July goals

• Complete the vegie garden.
• Have another go at .
• Make some bread.

Flickr photos by Fabio Pinheiro, ChezDeniseeLaudalino & Tambako the Jaguar