This is my 100th published post!

I was just rifling through my draft posts, looking for something to say today, and noticed that there were 99 posts published on the blog.

Over the past 100 posts I have covered friends, family, health, recipes, work, animals & pets, frugal tips and more.

Over the next 100 posts I hope to cover more of what my readers enjoy - certainly the most popular posts have been about health, family, friends, pets and work.

I'd also love to get some more feedback from you - my readers!  Ask me anything!  I'm happy to share my experiences with you all.

Todays post was a bit cheeky, but I will post again soon!

So much is happening this time of year, my brain can hardly keep up with it!

It's the time of year when people are thinking about getting a new puppy or kitten to surprise their family at Christmas, while others may be wondering what to do with their animals while they are away on holidays.

The title of my post today has a double meaning.

This past week at work has been heartbreaking.

For those of you who are unaware, we are now in kitten season, and we are also fast approaching Christmas, which means there is also a boom in the backyard and factory puppy business.

Summer!  Christmas!  BBQ Season!  Party Season!  New Years!

Pick any of the above, or add your own!  It's around this time of year that I start getting really excited about the upcoming festivities, reminiscing about the months behind, and posting more to my blog (yep, predictable...)!

Long hot days spent enjoying good wine and food with friends...  Camping and kayaking... Swimming at the river...  Why wouldn't I be excited?!

I've already started making mental lists of all the yummy things I get to cook next month to give away to friends and family.  Don't forget to check out my Recipes page to get your own ideas.  I've even got a few new ones up my sleeve to share closer to Christmas!!

Ideas for gifts are racing through my head, and where the heck did I put all the leftover Christmas Cards?!

I was reading through one of my Animal Studies assignments from earlier this year on Animal Welfare, and found a short piece I wrote about my thoughts on Puppy Factories/Farms.  Responsible breeding is an enormous part of animal welfare, and is something I have pretty clear and strong views on.

Here is my original, unedited writing.  I would love you to share your thoughts and comments!  Please note that the original brief was to share your thoughts on an RSPCA campaign - I chose to focus on 'Close Puppy Factories' - Ending the mass production of 'designer dogs'.

Puppy Factories operate with little or no regard to the physical or mental wellbeing of the animals, being run purely for profit.

Backyard breeders, and even some so-called 'professional' breeders are just as guilty of these disgusting practices as larger operations.  In the worst cases, bitches are often constantly pregnant, and live in squalid, overcrowded conditions with minimal human interaction.

Anybody who buys these animals - even though they may believe they are 'rescuing' or 'saving' them, are only encouraging the situation to continue.

The reality is that Pet Stores are businesses, and where there is a demand, they will source from where they can to meet it.

Irresponsibly bred or mass produced animals are rarely screened for genetic diseases, nor are their temperaments and general health taken into account.  The puppies then suffer from reduced genetic capacity, which makes them far more susceptible to disease, unstable temperaments and physical deformity.

I feel very strongly that the public must demand more stringent regulations in regard to the breeding of not only dogs, but of all animals, especially in regard to the sale of animals.  For this to happen, responsible breeders, animal welfare and retail operations need to cooperate!

Yes, this is in-your-face and partially incomplete, but I'm sure you get my drift!

Visit the Close Puppy Factories RSPCA Website: http://www.closepuppyfactories.org/

...and I have little of general interest to post about!!

But I'll try.

Blog Stuff

I've had a fiddle with the blog and fixed the template, removed some stuff, and added some new bits.

Not a new feature, but over on the right side of the page (>>>>>>>>>>>>), there's a big box for my Twitter feed.  I've started posting there again, in a micro-blogging style, so anything that goes on in my world will be seen there first, and blogged about later if it's noteworthy or has photos.

I also had a play around with my Youtube Channel Page, so if you're bored and want to know a little more about the things that interest me, having a look at my Playlists, Likes and Recent Activity on Youtube is a good place to start.

Also re-added the list of 'Blogs I Read' down the left side of the page.  Only the most recently active ones are shown, but oyu can see them all by clicking 'Show All'.

I'm never sure what direction to send this blog in, so if you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms, please feel free to let me know!

Animal Studies

I finally had a change to catch up with my Animal Studies teacher yesterday, and got together all the bits and pieces I still needed to be able to complete the remaining assignments for the course.  I have it all now, so it's just a matter of finding some down-time to get it all done!!  Hopefully I can knock it out sooner rather that later, giving me more free time as the weather improves and the daylight hours grow longer to spend time with my animals!

Who knew that going back to school would change my days so much!

I may only be going two days a week, but I think it has really been the boost I've needed to become much more motivated and enthusiastic about everyday life.

Simple daily housework tasks that I struggled with even a few months ago are now much easier to stomach, I'm getting caught up with things I've been needing to do for months and years (but never had the time or inclination to do!), and I've had so much more time and a little more energy to focus on my real passion - animals!

Being on such a ride brings its lows too, and I have had some interesting extremes of self-confidence and energy, offset with anxiety and depression, which has really floored me.

I'm hoping that this is just my body and minds' way of adjusting to a new direction in life, and maybe a bit of seasonal depression rearing its' ugly head. Either way, I'm pressing on, because I'm enjoying myself!

Family
There have also been some changes in my family life. Around my Birthday, my Nan's health was sufficiently deteriorated to the point where she required hospitalisation for pain management, which later led to her moving into an aged care facility. It was not an unhappy move, and she is really loving the new experience, but it was a stressful time as far as paperwork and moving things went. It was also difficult for my Mum, who resides South of Hobart and spent many days here in Launceston organising my Nan's move and finalising things at her unit.

Another change has been my Sister in Law, Niece and Newphews moving away. It has been a verystressful and sad time, and I hope it has a happy ending, but I will leave it at that for now.


Going to the... Horses?

RSPCA Cattery

I am now well into my Animal Studies course, and really enjoying it. The material is more in-depth than I had expected, which really pleases me. At the moment we're working on Nutrition, and I will soon be starting my first work placement!

We've had some fantastic guest speakers from a pretty wide range of animal industries, and I can only hope we get to learn from many more interesting professionals over the coming months. Good outings too!

I have also spread my tentacles(?) into another area of animals that has always interested me, but that I've not had much of an oppourtunity to do anything in: Horses!

I've been on a few semi-instructed trail rides in the past, and always enjoyed them. I went on another a couple of weeks ago with Lara and Emily (thanks Janet!)

So, I have taken the plunge, and had my first formal one-on-one riding lesson today! Janet and Lara have also been kind enough to allow me to help out with their stunning Thoroughbred Onyx at event days, and I look forward to getting some more strapping experience in the future.

Things have been a little crazy around here the last couple of weeks!!

First to the sad part - Broc's Grandmother passed away earlier in the week.  Although it was not unexpected as she has been unwell for quite some time, there has still been a profound sense of loss in the house.  His Mum is taking it pretty hard, and we share in her grief while we help to support her through this process.

My Nan has also been unwell, which has been a little stressful, although it's nothing serious -  Just another stage of growing old!

Last but not least, I went back to school for the first time since I finished College!  I'm super excited, but it was a little daunting at first.  Now I'm just busting to get into the real work!  No prizes for guessing the subject matter... Yep, Animal Studies!  More on that later on.

Anyway, I really wanted to share this recipe with you!  No pictures, as I really suck at remembering to do that, but just make it for yourself and you can drool over your own real life specimen!  Goes great with soup or stew, and would go awesomely with a hearty curry aswell!


Ingredients

• 1 Cup Plain Flour * See Note 1
• 3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup Sugar * See Note 2
• 350mL Beer (most of a stubby, drink the remainder!)
• 1/4 Cup Butter

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a loaf pan.
2. Sift Flour & Baking Powder well, and mix in other dry ingredients.
3. Mix in Beer - lots of froth happens so be careful!
4. Pour into loaf pan, and then pour the melted butter over the mixture.
5. Bake for 1 hour - the first time you make this, put a flat pan under your loaf tin incase there are any drips!
6. Remove from pan and cool for 15 mins before consuming.

Note 1:  A mix of Plain and Wholemeal flour can be used.  I used 1/3 C Wholemeal and 2/3 C Plain, and added a little extra beer (so I used a whole 375 mL stubby) so it wouldn't dry out.  You could also mix some melted butter in the batter.

Note 2: I found that the 1/4 C Sugar makes the bread almost sweet, but this would change depending on what type of beer you use.  Experiment!!

The original recipe can be found Here.

Edit: While this recipe is FANTASTIC fresh out of the oven, it's hardly even worth eating once cooled.

This Saturday, the 12th of February, is my 27th Birthday.  A little scary to be honest!  Well past the quarter-century mark, and only 3 more years until I turn 30.

Aside from being a great reason to share great food and wine with friends - not that I'm generally hard-pressed to find an excuse to do that anyway! - I find Birthdays a poignant time to selfishly reflect myself over the past year.  What have I done?  What didn't I do that I wanted to do?  What really sucked?  What am I looking forward to in my next year of life?

Over the past 12 months, I have made some pretty important decisions regarding my physical and mental/emotional health:

I resigned from my job, as it was just too physically, mentally and emotionally draining to continue with - a decision I probably should have made some time ago.
I decided not to pursue more work for the time-being.
I'm really enjoying being able to do housework at my leisure, bake and cook, and exercise without worrying about being too tired out to go to work.
Cutting down on junk food.  I'm only likely to have maybe one glass soft-drink a week!  I've cut down on coffee, down to around 2 cups a day!  In the last few months, I've also been handling my comfort eating a little better.
I decided early last year to go back to school.  Today I submitted my application and sat an interview for a course due to start next week.  I am so excited!
I'm spending more time outdoors and really loving it.  Walking and gardening really relax me, sometimes I'll just sit outside in the garden and dig for the hell of it.
Trying to make our lives more sustainable, by recycling more, growing some of our own produce, and sharing it with friends.  We now have Solar panels installed that feed back into the power grid, and we have drastically changed our power usage in the home for the better.
I'm training dogs again which is something I've always loved doing.  I've missed Obedience Club over the last several years, and it's really nice to get into it again.
I'm reading more books which I had all but stopped doing for a few years.  I've been managing to average one a month, and hope to ramp it up this year!
Spending more time with friends is one of the bigger positive changes.  I'm always happier when I can share my experiences with friends, and I've got some really positive and supportive people around me now.

But it's not all good.  There's a lot of things I wish I had done, or had done differently over the last year.  I've thought about those too, but I won't share them right now.

For now, I'm looking at the positives.  This year I'll be expanding on all the positive points above, because they all make me feel better about Me (I said this was a time for selfish reflection, right?!)!  But they're also positive for those around me; sharing experiences, happy times, and personal growth.

Most of those close to us know that, for the last couple of years at least, having children has been frequently in our thoughts.

I have suffered with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since my early teens, and although I manage my symptoms fairly well, I do have flare-ups from time to time.  Most days, I appear to be a normal, healthy, 26-year-old woman.  Other days, I can be irritable, physically exhausted to the point of not being able to drag myself from bed, anxious and jumpy, mentally exhausted and unable to concentrate on the simplest of tasks or hold a conversation - or any combination of the above, just to name a few!  My symptoms are exacerbated by - among other things - stress and physical exertion, so the thought of what being pregnant, and then taking care of a baby would do to my health terrifies me!

We feel very strongly about not having children until we can provide the best life possible for them - otherwise we would have had them years ago, I'm sure!

There is still little known about the effect of pregnancy on sufferers of CFS.  What is known for certain, is that I would have to stop taking my medication.  I currently take an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication to help even out those symptoms, as they also help to exacerbate the physical side of the illness.  Although I am confident that I would be able to cope without them these days - under normal circumstances at least - I do not know how the hormones, and physical and emotional stresses of pregnancy would affect me mentally.  I have come to terms with the fact that there is a very high probability that I will suffer from Post-Natal Depression.

Friends assure me that we will cope - and yes, we have a fantastic support network of friends and family, but none of them suffer from Chronic Fatigue, so it's hard for them to think of the situation the way that I do, and I can't help but be scared.

I have been searching for the experiences of others in my position who have taken the plunge, and found a fantastic article on a blog.  A quote:

Here’s the thing, I am going to be sick whether I have kids or not......The thing is, the amount of joy we get from our kids WAY outweighs any hardship.

Reading the entire article, I feel much more at ease.

What do you think?  Especially to those who suffer from a chronic illness, how do you cope day-to-day taking care of your child/children?

I look forward to reading your responses!

Edit: PS: When you go and look at the linked article, make sure you check out the rest of the blog!  Some great reads there.

Over-the-top spending is becoming less in-vogue, and being frugal is becoming even more common and acceptable than it was when our parents and grandparends were young.  But it's not about wearing worn hand-me-downs or using your the same tea bag all day anymore.

Now, being thrifty is as much about being smart with your purchases and use of products as it is about cutting back on extravagances like dining out or buying the latest fashions.  But I'm not here to give you a lesson in frugality, there are plenty of other websites and blogs out there to do that.  I'm writing to share my suggestions on frugal Christmas gifting!

Start Early
I know you say it every year - "I'll start buying my gifts early this year, in the sales!" - but how often do you actually do it?!  Stores run sales all year round, and the best bargains aren't always found in the post-Christmas rush.  Watch for clearance tags at your local Kmart, Target or other favorite department store.

Think Carefully
Your husband complains every time he looks for a tool that he can't find something, but he never does anything about it.  Perfect!  You can buy him a tool-box or trolley for Christmas.  It's all about paying attention to what your friends and family really want, and buying accordingly.  That way you don't rush out three days before Christmas and buy the most expensive thing in the store just because it will impress them.

Know Your Pricing
Just because one store has something 'On Sale' or a 'Huge Discount' doesn't mean you can't get it cheaper elsewhere.  If you have a specific item in mind, shop around for the best price.  If you're buying a big ticket item, plan to pay in cash and haggle for the best deal.

Shop Online
Online clearance warehouses and department stores like DealsDirect, TopBuy, Catch of the Day and a horde of others have great daily deals, often with extra discounts off their already low prices, and with other perks like free shipping thrown in on top.  Check for offers through online payment sites like Paypal.  Shop smart on auction sites like eBay - take note of the rule above, and don't get caught out by shipping costs either!  Make sure you buy with plenty of time to spare - a gift arriving a week after Christmas won't be much good!

Re-gifting
It's not an evil word!  Sometimes you end up with fantastic gifts that you're just never going to use. Or maybe you win some random competition, and wonder hell are you going to do with a second cordless drill?!  Just because you don't need or can't use an item, doesn't mean you didn't appreciate it in the first place - so why let a perfectly good gift go unused?!  Needless to say, don't gift back to the person who gave it to you in the first place!!

Don't Over-spend
This one is pretty simple.  Set your budget for Christmas spending, and aim to come out on top.  Narrow down that gift list if you have to - and don't be afraid to let people know you can't or won't be buying for them this year.

Make It Up
Close friends and family enjoy gifts made with thought and care.  Gift packs with a mix of smaller items are great fun for kids - and adults too.

Let Other People Know What YOU Want!
Others can be frugal too!!  Make an online Wishlist and let all your potential gift-buyers know about it.  That way you end up with exactly what you want, and people don't over-spend trying to buy you the 'perfect' gift.

I hope you enjoy these tips!!   I'll post again soon with more Christmas tips, to help get in the spirit!

I wanted to introduce my readers to some friends of mine. A mum and her two sons who are involved in home schooling, and who learn through a process known as natural learning/unschooling.

From what I can gather, the concept is that children - like adults - learn more effectively through experiences than they do in a classroom. That is, that instead of sitting in a formal classroom situation and having things hammered into their brains, they learn through doing and seeing!!

To anyone who has a knowledge of the different 'Learning Styles' - Visual, Auditory and Tactile - I would think that this approach would make a lot of sense!!

Anyway, their blog isn't a look at how the learn, it's more a showcase of what they do! I hope you enjoy it, as I am certainly enjoying it so far.

Since my regular theme is a bit broken at the moment, and I haven't found a new one I like yet, I've decided to whack on a Christmas-themed blog template.

Hope it helps everyone get into the spirit of the season :D

What do you love about Christmas? What do you hate?

Had a bit of a blah weekend to go with my blah week.
Very busy day at work on Saturday, then a stressful couple of hours at dog training on Sunday.

Abby is making some improvements, but it's slow going, physically demanding and mentally draining. Plus, there's always someone around to stick their nose in and tell you what you 'should be doing'. I know people do that everywhere, but Abby is my little girl, and I guess I take it pretty personally. Thankfully, I had the support of some great people there to help me through.

I had a lovely Sunday afternoon with my wonderful husband - he took me up to the Trevallyn bakery, where we bought a bag full of yummy stuff, and drove to the Tailrace and sat, ate and chatted. Ahh.

I was driving to the Dentists early this morning, listening as I often do to LAFM.  The breakfast show was on, and Mel was bitching about her children's pet guinea pigs, which had been 'passed on' from another family, and which she now wanted to get rid of as her kids weren't bothered with them anymore.

If I hadn't already been running late, I would have pulled over and called the station to give this woman an ear full.

Not only was she setting a terrible example by not making sure her kids looked after their pets, but now she wanted to pass them on like hand-me-down clothes or perhaps an old car!  Not only that, but she was doing it on local radio!!  Hey, I'm sure she's a great parent, and I'm sure she had no bad intent, but the simple fact that she thought nothing of making it a topic of general conversation really pissed me off.

What's that, you say?  They're only a couple of stupid guinea pigs?
Well, that may be so, but in my humble, personal opinion, when you bring a pet into your home, you make a commitment to provide for it.  The pet cannot choose whether or not it wants to be there, it can't make you like it (or dislike it), and it certainly can't feed itself.  It certainly (in most cases) can't find somewhere better to live if it thinks you're doing a crap job of looking after it.  Much like a baby, pets rely on their owners to provide everything for them.

To the parents out there who 'let' their kids get/talk them into getting a pet and then complain when the kids aren't interested anymore, suck it up!!  You're the parent, you made the decision, now it's your responsibility.  First, it might be something little, like a guinea pig, fish or bird - what about when your kids then have kids?  Perhaps even while they're living at home?  What about when the excitement wears off - are Mum and Dad going to pick up the pieces and look after the baby?  Or perhaps just put an ad in the paper: Give Away Baby to good home, great with kids!!

I do digress - I tend not to be the best author in the world when I'm writing about something that makes me mad, but I'm sure by now you've gotten the point.  Well, I hope so anyway.

My Birthday was yesterday (February 12 - mark it in for next year!), and I had a pretty damn good day considering I'm now on the far side of the 1/4 Century.

I had planned to start off with a nice extra hour of sleep after Broc left, even with the cats yelling at me for food - that I can tune out from.  The big black dog sticking his face under the doonah and snuffling his big, cold, wet nose into the small of my back is a little harder to ignore.

Breakfast, if you can call it that, consisted of mini bake-at-home Ciabatta rolls with assorted indulgent toppings including sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto, Mmmm...

Spent the day at home doing little bits of housework at my leisure, interrupted only by a relaxing visit from my Mother-In-Law with a lovely card & present for me.  Later on, Casey also dropped by with a pressie for me!

For dinner, I talked Broc into taking me out somewhere, and he picked the Jailhouse Grill, one of my favorite places to eat.  I had something a little different to the usual, their Scallop & Bacon Kebabs, which were just YUMMY!

We passed on staying for dessert, instead dropping by Coles on the way home to pick up one of our favorite desserts - a box of Brandy Snaps and a can of Cream!

Doesn't sound like a very exciting day, but the celebrations continue today with cake for lunch soon courtesy of Dan, then on to Festivale for tea & drinkies with Broc, Mum, Jeff and whoever else we run into!  But more on that tomorrow (when I eventually wake up).

Wow, I haven't posted since NOVEMBER!!

I seem to have a habit of doing this... I'll post for a while, then get too caught up in the rest of my life to ever find time to post anything.  Either that, or I sit down to post, and decide that my boring life isn't interesting enough for anyone else to read - or even for me to bother writing about!

But the fact is, there's lots of interesting stuff!  So from now on, I'm going to spend a few minutes every day or two writing about stuff that's going on.  It may not be interesting to you, or it might be fantastic.

Unfortunately I don't have the patience or writing skill to keep a blog that is actually useful for any purpose other than to keep our friends and family appraised of what's going on in our lives.

As you may (or may not) know, last week I had a molar removed - that nasty, skanky thing in the back of my mouth that's been broken since college.


Anyway, it started to heal up OK, and the pain had subsided a bit by Wednesday. Thursday onwards was a whole other story. The pain got worse - a throbbing ache which even Panadiene Forte and constant heat packs could not quell. Plus there was this little sharp bit which I thought was a piece of tooth. No. It wasn't (I checked - more ouch).


An emergency visit to the Dentist first thing Monday morning confirmed my worst fears - a dry socket, and a nice sharp piece of jaw bone that would hinder healing and needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.


Back in on Wednesday morning at 9AM for some more local anaesthetic and the dentist got to drilling and filing the protruding piece of jaw down, then proceeded to stitch up my gum. Apparently, I have pansy girly thing gum tissue, so this took awhile.


Thankfully it's all over now - the stitches are dissolvable, the mouth wash is revolting, but at least the two different types of pain relief seem to keep on top of everything.

Yep, Broc will get his license back at the end of next week!

Why is this worthy of its' own post? Because I don't have to drive him places anymore!!!

And remember folks, it's not just the Police who are flogging these anti-hooning laws, it's the courts too.

So just remember, next time you think about being polite to and officer or in court, don't bother - they're going to slap you with the maximum anyway. Be an asshole - at least you'll feel better afterwards.

:D

Well, the week started off OK, couple of job prospects for Broc, but today was terrible.

Broc had to appear in court for a driving offence (under the lovely new anti-hooning legislation), and even though it was his first offence (and a minor one at that), the judge imposed the maximum penalty, which was a $400 fine, and suspended his license for 4 months. For doing a pissy, 1-wheeled burnout while stationary at a set of traffic lights, with no other vehicles or pedestrians around. What a joke.

In comparison, another defendant recieved the same penalty for their second drink-driving offence. Someone else there recieved a $150 fine for a drink driving charge, and another person recieved a $150 fine for speeding.

I understand that these new legislations are here to deter dangerous offences, but really all they've done in this matter is show how ignorant the system is.

Because he is unemployed and we don't have kids to take to school, he can't even apply for a hardship license. So if my Nan needs to go to the doctors, we will need to get a taxi/lift there, to her doctors, back to her place, then home again. Yeah. That's gonna happen.

Also, my driving log book has to be scrapped because of the suspension.

Maybe he deserved it. Maybe not. Either way, all they've done is encouraged me to drink and drive and speed instead of doing a harmless one-wheeled burnout. In the end, you'd be let off for a lot less.