Satisfaction is the sister of Frustration

That's how it feels for me most of the time. The things that frustrate me the most and demand so much of my energy to achieve ultimately give me great satisfaction.

At the risk of making myself sound completely middle aged and uninteresting, last week I managed my days and week really well and as a result was very pleased with myself. We've all been talking about sprialling food costs, it's affecting everyone the world over, so I'm trying to be better in our shopping habits. It's not so much changing what we eat, as it's one area where I'm pretty uncompromising, but changing how I shop. I have always shopped to a list but for the last six months I've been trying to shop to a menu. So, I write a list of all the meals we'll have in the coming week, then shop to the ingredients. It sounds very very dull putting it like that and I confess that I've always been a "what do I feel like tonight" cook, but in terms of managing waste, it's great. The effort expended to actually think ahead of different meals (adding in that we're trying to increase vegie intake, reduce meat even more and no carbs at night!), well I don't manage that every week - but when I do, everything falls into place.

Last week all my cooking was done every night by the time Geoff got home. Dishes done and put away, everything in order and as a result I felt better about my day's achievements, but also completely shattered. I guess it's like anything else, feeling you've done a good job, whether it's in an office or in the home, you measure by certain things and for me, last week it came together somewhat.

I haven't managed to be very crafty of late. I have 6 dolls sitting with their torsoes, arms and legs all separate from each other and little time to get them into order. I have had half a dozen tops for the girls ready to decorate, together with a couple of extras for friends, but just hadn't managed to get to them. Yesterday I whipped up one for Leila, pretty cute I think.

While I'm plugging away at this, very poor mothering skills are in play in the lounge room.

Night Garden is huge in this house. Ella likes it but Leila goes nuts for it. If you don't want them to see it and the start comes on, the little baby with the bedtime routine, forget it, more than life's worth to try and turn it off. This photo of them is this morning while Night Garden was babysitting for me.