sleep deprivation

According to wikipedia - Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function.

At the moment Rona is very unsettled at night, often being awake for a couple of hours (usually from 3am-5am or thereabouts). I am working on getting her out of this habit.
At the moment Rona is getting enough sleep for her age, so that is good.


But at the moment I am on somewhere between 4 and 6 hours of sleep at night.
I really need at least 8, 9 if possible.

So I am sleep deprived....
This is not fun at all, I have tried going to bed earlier, and it gets me up to about 6 hours of sleep at night ( I tried going to bed even earlier, but I can't sleep if I go to bed too much earlier.

I will make it through this phase. I keep telling myself that it is just a phase and one that will hopefully pass sooner rather than later.

Down to Earth

I have recently discovered the book Down to Earth by Rhonda Hetzel.

It is a fabulous book about simplicity and ways to make your house more of a home, and working towards becoming more green and self sufficient.

I found this book to be a great inspiration. I have also discovered Rhonda's blog and forum

Rhonda is based in Australia, but this book would translate to anyone who wishes for a simpler life.

Kindle problems

If you are like me, and have taken advantage of a free book on Kindle, and discovered that it was terrible, there is hope!
You can delete books from Kindle using this tutorial

In case you are like me and didn't figure it out by yourselves

Sick

Rona is down with a viral infection, she has a sore throat and a cough, but the doctors don't have a definitive diagnosis.
She has been sick for 7 days now, and waking up all the time at night. I am running on about 4 hours of sleep a night.

Lack of sleep and emotionally draining days are getting to me.

Hopefully she will recover soon, and I can get some sleep, before my personality is changed permanently.

My grocery challenge

I made it, I bought what we needed for the week, and spent exactly $20.

I bought:
5 bananas
1 nectarine
some grapes
6L of milk
4L of juice
1 loaf of bread

I think that was it.
Thank goodness for my freezer, it had enough food for dinners for the week (and I still have more).

The week's dinners were as follows -
Monday - Sticky Sausages, potato and vegetables
Tuesday -Left overs (Husband has soccer practice, so we eat small meals on Tuesday nights)
Wednesday - Beef pie and vegetables
Thursday - Beef and Black Bean stir fry
Friday - Chicken Schnizel, potatoes and vegetables
Saturday - Sweet and sour chicken stir fry
Sunday - beef stroganoff

Another attempt to save money

This week, I am going to try to spend only $20 on groceries this week. I budget $100 per week.
But I know we have quite a bit in the pantry/freezer.

So this will be my challenge for the week. I will need to buy some fruit, milk and bread, but will try not to get anything else.

Another of my favourite books

Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III by Flora Fraser is another one of my favourite books.

King George III's six daughters tend to get short shrift from historians and biographers who focus on their father, their brothers, and their niece Queen Victoria. The prevailing picture of them is of six retiring women in the background. This book has pulled Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia out of the shadows and let us see that they had strong personalities and lives of their own.

This is an extremely well written book, on the face of it, a book that covers women who were extremely sheltered and restricted wouldn't be interesting. But they managed to have full lives, and it does make for good reading.

This is another one of my books that I have read over and over again.

How we lived then by Norman Longmate

How we lived then by Norman Longmate is one of my favourite books

This is a book about civilian life in Britian during WWII. Norman Longmate compiled the stories of hundreds, if not thousands, of people into a logical, highly readable format.

This book is wonderful in that it shows us how very brave, stoic and determined the British people were in living day-to-day during the war, especially during The Blitz. They quietly made so many sacrifices to save their nation during the war.The English population was full of heroes in terrifying times.

I love day to day history books (how "normal" people lived). This is the ultimate book of these.

I have read it many times, my copy of the book is starting to fall apart. (Okay, maybe I am a bit of a history buff)

DIY stainless steel straws

Recently I found this tutorial on Hounds in the Kitchen.

source

I was so excited to see this, as the straws we usually use are disposable, and don't stand up to many uses.

Also, I am making some for a birthday present for someone.

It hurt my hand a little to cut so many straws, but I am happy.

A day in the life

I was thinking recently, why do I never seem to have time for anything...
Then I looked at what I do in a day
Here was a day recently.

4:39am - Rona wakes, I resettle her
7am - Rona wakes, Husbands alarm goes off. I get Rona while Husband gets me some headache tablets.
7:15 - Breakfast, get dressed, get Rona breakfast, Rona dressed and ready for the day
8am - Leave house
8:10 - arrive at Mum's
8:15 - Pick up Mum, drive to Rebecca's house
8:27 - Arrive at Rebecca's house
8:45 - Leave Mum at Rebecca's house, take Ruth and Samuel (neice and nephew) to school
9:00 - Get Ruth and Samuel to school, go into school hall
9:10-10:15 - Attend school assembly (as Rebecca was unable to attend)
10:15 - back in car
10:25 - Arrive at shops, run errands
10:45 - go to library
11:45 - get back in car
12 - Arrive at Mum's, drop Rona off
12:15 - short grocery shop
12:35 - back home
While home - 2 loads of laundry, washed, dried, put away, weeks worth of ironing,  vacuumed, washed floors, cleaned bathroom, cleaned toilet, rang around to find somewhere to sharpen my scissors, paid bills, did some preparation for dinners, processed some onions and carrots to freeze, ate lunch, sewed the binding on the quilt I just finished, checked emails
4pm - left to pick up Rona
5pm - back home, played with Rona
5:45 - Get Rona ready for bed
6:15 - Put dinner on, tidy lounge room
6:30 - check emails, make stainless steel straws (will blog on this later), eat dinner
7:00 - Rona woke up, resettle her
7:15 - start washing dishes and tidying kitchen
7:40 - Husband home,  he eats dinner.
7:50 - wash more dishes
7:55 - Sew 2 cloth books (about 60% done)
8:30 - sit down, surf internet
9 - finish cleaning kitchen and washing dishes
9:30 - read book
10 - bed

Still by Lauren Winner

Still: Notes on a mid-faith crisis by Lauren Winner is an engaging and thoughtful book. I love it for the author's faithfulness and honesty in the midst of doubt and loss.

Winner offers a series of reflections from the years following several crises in the author's life. Her mother dies, her marriage dissolves.

This book is not a memoir in the traditional sense; there is no linear narrative that leads to a tidy conclusion. Rather, Still is a journal; notes and ruminations in which Winner is struggling to find a way back to closeness with God.

Winner doesn’t give platitudes or comfort that one might expect from a book about a crisis of faith. Rather, Still is a journal; notes and ruminations in which Winner is struggling to find a way back to closeness with God

I have been reading Lauren Winner’s books since “Girl MeetsGod” (2004) and have found her writing style and how she conveys the way she “lives in her head”.  It is strange, I identify and empathise with Lauren Winner much more as an author than I have with any other author.

I picked up the book because I love Winner’s books. I chose to read it before most other books I bought (I went on a mini spending spree for books for my Kindle), because I identified with the thought of a mid-faith crisis.

I have not lost a parent, my marriage is still intact, yet I find myself in a similar position to Winner. I feel like I am in the darkness alone. That God made Himself absent at the same time He took away the ground under my feet. 

I am having another bought of serious depression. Mostly, it is manageable (never gone) but lately, not quite as manageable.
Part of the depression (whether a cause or effect, I cannot tell) is a falling away. I have stopped praying (mostly) and reading the bible (again, mostly). I attend church, but Rona keeps me from being able to listen to a sermon, or participate properly in the services.  Lots of excuses; all resulting in my feeling the absence of God.

Anyway, really this is a very good book, one I would recommend.