Around Here - 22nd July, 2026

Hard to believe we are nearly at the end of July and only 5 months until 2027.  Nothing too exciting happening around here as the weeks seem to be the same and then on Sunday I spend with my family taking our Mum out for lunch as she is in aged care.  Getting old doesn't seem much fun in my opinion and as I'm 63 in September I need to be focusing more on health and longivity myself.

I've had a DEXA scan in 2023, 2024 and 2026 and surprizingly it says my bones are at high risk of fracture. DEXA scans can be up to $300 however I found a local place that does it for $90 and this is where the top footballers go so they are reptuable.  My muscles are good but body fat is not good [no surprize there] so it's time I stop burying my head in the sand and look after myself.  In 2017 I joined Sam Wood 28 program and lost about 16kgs and due to stresses in my personal life ended up gradually putting all that weight back on.  Then in December 2021 I did a 21 day no chocolate challenge for myself to stop that habit and then joined Weight Watchers and again lost 16kgs only to eventually put that back on again.

So here we are in 2026 and if not now, when?  I did rejoin the Sam Wood 28 Menopause Program in February and then I injured my shoulder with a 3mm tear so didn't do any exercises.  I have been going to the physio recently and it's getting better but it's still not great so this week I actually and a workout and it feels good to be back.  The recipes in the program are great and I need to get excited about cooking again.  It's funny when I meal planned each week for the 3 of us it seemed easier to cook for my family but as it's just me it doesn't seem as fulfilling.  I also cooked up a Sam Wood Brownie recipe made out of chickpeas which I can say is 10/10. I've cut it up into 18 little pieces so when I want a chocolate fix I know it's not full of rubbish and it's on hand in the freezer to have with a coffee.

Speaking of bone health I've come across Dr Vonda Wright recently and she has written a book called Unbreakable which I bought but will need to sit down and read it.  She also has a youtube channel as well and says your bones need impact to stay healthy and says you need to stomp or jump 20-50 times a day as bones respond to this.  So either jump on the spot 20 times or jump from the bottom step inside or outside of your house if you have steps.  She also said you should be standing on one leg throughout the day to improve your balance for instance when you are brushing your teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil.  Dr Vonda Wright says everyone should be doing a DEXA scan to know all the stats about their body.  She also has a video on how to read a DEXA scan and what a T score in bone health means too.

There is so much change to a woman's body because of menopause, most I knew of and some I didn't know relating to bone density etc.  Now is the time to look after myself from the inside out.  Another thing is when we were younger we were out in the sun a lot and now as we are older we don't stay out in the sun so Vitamin D is important for bone health and yet for myself I'm never really in the sun anymore so my next blood test we are testing Vitamin D as well so I may have to take a supplement. 

I don't buy clothes for myself because that doesn't make me feel good but I love buying cookbooks.  I came across this wonderful cookbook by Catie Gett who ran "The Staple Store" in Melbourne for over 10 years and then she closed it.  She opened the store to help people get into wholefoods and made up products that were made of dry ingredients and spices and then all you had to do was add a couple of things and dinner is cooked.  This is her why and I think she is amazing.

As an example this "Not so Dahl" recipe which was her most popular product she is giving away some of her recipes for free.  The idea is to mix up these dry mixes yourself in batches so have 5 containers of it in the cupboard and half the work is done.  Mix the dry ingredients and then add a tin of tomatoes and some water and cook for 35-40 minutes.  This recipe can also be cooked in a rice cooker if you have one.  I read the book from cover to cover and love her story and she has old photos through out the book of her growing up cooking with her parents. This would be a good book to request your local library get in however I'm so glad I got one myself.  She said that when she closed the shop money was really tight and then food security became a big mission for her so the recipes in this book are all afforable because she knows what it's like.  I absolutely LOVED this book and her story and also a single Mum looking at ways of educating people about whole foods in an affordable way.

Made a batch of pickled red onions.

I bought this bread bag to store my sourdough on the bench and it can also be used in the freezer. I had seen lots of these types of things advertised but someone I follow from the Sunshine Coast has been using one of these for a year and they recommended it so purchased it.

This is where I got the Bread Bag from.

  

Worst Victoria Sponge ever - epic flop goodness knows what happened.

Got these out from the Library, didn't really love the

cookbook but the Clean & Green Book 100% great.

EPIC FAIL - This is how flat they were, don't know what

happened it was one of Nancy's recipes.

Evening sunset.

On my walk.

Teddy wondering why I am jumping around dancing.

Getting ready to make the Sam Wood Brownie Recipe

I cut each log into 3 pieces and put them in the freezer 10/10 recipe.

Enjoy your week, let me know if you have any healthy recipe treats that you love.

Around here - 10th July, 2026

I was going through my old blog posts and found one that I never hit publish on a few years ago so I thought I so it now.  I worked in an accounting office for nearly 13 years and worked in admin with accounts payable, accounts receivable and debtors etc so there are lots of numbers and I love working with numbers and budgets.  I'm a Virgo and very organized and have most of my life had a budget for my finances.  I had a paper system which was a little book for many years which I came across which is no longer available however the system set me up for life.  It was simple, effective and fun and I put a few of the girls in the office onto this system and they loved it as well and felt in control of their money and even saved money for a house deposit because of this system.

Over time I transferred the system onto an excel spreadsheet which I've used for over 25 years and also shared it with a friend who had never done a budget before.  Whether you have a lot of money or not, doing a budget is about knowledge knowing where your money is, knowing where you are allocating every $.  Knowing what bills you pay monthly, quarterly, annually etc.  It's about knowing how much money you have and what your money goals are, not necessarily about deprivation.

I wrote about Scott Pape's book The Barefoot Investor back in 2017 and there was 295 hold on this book at the library so it was very popular - I ended up buying it instead.  The title doesn't do it justice because while it does talk about investing in shares it's the whole gamit of money from home loans, ring your insurance company to get a better price, what to say to your bank to get a better interest rate.  Talks about date nights with your partner to talk about your money goals etc.  It's a book every 18 year old needs to read.  He also wrote one for families which is also amazing and every 10-18 year old needs to read this one including the parents.  I wrote about that book in this blog post.

The idea of sinking funds or buckets is a title of a money goal to work towards.  For example Bills, Mortgage, Car Expenses, Food, Petrol, Entertainment, Holiday, Savings, Investing, Pets, Christmas.

You may have your money in an offset account attached to your mortgage.  If the mortgage is $500,000 and your offset account has $50,000 in it, then the bank would charge daily interest on $450,000.

That $50,000 sitting in your offset account [or any bank account] is made up of your money goals.  Of that $50,000 you might [on paper] say $30,000 is savings, $10,000 is for a holiday and the other $10,000 is made up of other categories mentioned above ie Bills, Mortgage, Car Expenses, Food, Petrol, Entertainment, Investing, Pets, Christmas.

As an example you can have one account with $10,000 in it and feel like you have a lot of money.  Out of that $10,000 you could have a $3,000 mortgage payment due, car rego $900, car repairs $650, food for the month could be $200 a week therefore another $800 there and so on and so on.  You can decide what buckets or sinking funds you would like.  If your car rego is $900 and you get paid monthly you would need to set aside $75 a month so when it's due you have the money sitting there rather than stressing where you are going to find $900 for that one bill.

I used to get paid monthly so my monthly bill split was the same every month so it was super easy.  Say if you want to go on an holiday in a years time which will cost $5,000.  Take $5,000 divided by 12 [monthly pay cycle] means you need to put $417 away each month toward that holiday goal.  All the money sits in one account but you can see out of the $10,000 how much is in there for your holiday fund.

Budgets don't have to be restrictive, and in fact they are very liberating because you know where your money is, you know when bills are due and there is no more burying your head in the sand wondering how you are going to pay big bills.

I use excel however you can start with an exercise book and go from there.  One big tip is to work out your Master Bills List for the year and then divide that figure by your pay cycles to work out what needs to be the first allocation when the pay comes in.  You could keep a separate account for bills and transfer it on pay day so it's separate which is a good idea.

With the Master Bills list think of everything that gets paid in a year outside of mortgage and/or rent, petrol, food, entertainment.  So that's things like monthly and annual subscriptions Netflix, Amazon, icloud storage as we all know everything is a subscription service now.  Don't forget dentists, doctors, hair & beauty, presents [Birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas] health & fitness, Driver's Licence, Passports these things come around when you least expect it work out when they are due.  Rates or Body Corporate, Water, Electricity, House & Contents Insurance, Car Insurance, RACQ, 

Do you know how to save $10,000 a year - it's as simple as earning $27.39 a day.  Seems small when you look at the daily rate.  You could sell something on FBMP, or buy not buying Friday night take away you save that $27.39 [if you are lucky take away is that small $$] 

Everyone will have different money goals, someone might value spending money on gym memberships whereas someone might like designer handbags.  Another person might like eating out at restaurants with friends, someone like myself likes camera gear.  Everyone will have different money values and therefore you need to work out your own money values. 

Anyway back to the original post if you have Netflix watch this series which LOVED it.  There is so much to learn where people's money stories come from and how he helps them work out what money values they have or more importantly what they want for their future.  I can highly recommend it.

How to Get Rich was released on Netflix are 8 episodes about 30 minutes each and Ramit Sethi takes people through a 6 week journey on where they are financially and teaches them how to manage their money so that they can design their rich life.  There are families, singles and everyone has different priorities.  He says that your rich life is not about being rich, however it's about you designing the sort of life you want whether that is working part time, paying off your loans and enjoying life.  I have never hear of Ramit Sethi before however I loved the way he went about helping these people.  There was no shaming them about their current financial situation and the fact that they had not been shown how to talk about money, manage money perhaps growing up.  One couple had lots of money and were doing well however were getting into day trading [basically gambling] and thinking they could make a quick buck which they did initially until they didn't and then thinking they could make the money up which they couldn't.  It's a great series and something to think about.

Let me know what you think if you end up watching this series.  

Around Here - Colour Walk - Blue - 28-06-2026

If you have been a long time reader of my blog you will know that over the years my passion for photography was about photographing our life and my kids.  Fast forward to now and my kids are now 22 and 20 and no longer kids and also no longer interested in being my photography subjects any more.  Photography bought me so much joy for many years and it's been a struggle for one of my main interests to disappear.  I talked recently about my interest getting into street photography and having a day out in the city although I haven't actually done that yet.

I also talked about how I got my 2nd hand Canon AE-1 completely rebuilt so I can take film photos because it had a lot of light leaks and needed repairs.  My very first camera I bought when I was 17 was a Canon AE-1 which cost me 6 weeks wages, massive for the time.  I bought it from Ted's Camera Shop in the city.  My friend had a Pentax Camera and we both did a photography course at South Brisbane and to learn all about aperture, shutter speed, ISO [back in the day this was called ASA].  We also learnt how to process B&W images in the dark room too.

Since I've had the camera repaired I've taken a couple of images but need to take it out as well rather than around my townhouse.  I had my original Canon AE-1 for about 17 years or so and I was at a cafe at South Bank and it dropped from the chair to the ground and I broke the shutter mechanism and I didn't get it repaired, I assumed it was broken for good.  I did buy another camera after that but honestly I can't even remember what happed to it as it was a film camera and I probably sold it after I got my new digital camera.

Around 2002 we got a basic digital camera probably 2.0 mp and eventually the world of digital photography opened up and have been digital ever since.  I was reluctant to change from film to digital however now in 2026 film is making a big come back which is funny just like vinyl records.  Everything old is new again.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting 5 other ladies for a "Colour Hunt" walk in the city [Brisbane, Australia] which was really fun.  The ladies were lovely and you'd be surprized how when you are given one colour to focus on how it stands out like no body's business.  We walked around together vearing off to take photos and then ended up having coffee at a nice cafe afterwards.  My colour was BLUE so I thought I would share my photos here for you.  Here's the group photo of us below.

I hope you enjoyed my colour walk around Brisbane city looking for the colour "BLUE".

Around here - June 2026

This blog was born out of the "simple living" mantra after coming across Rhonda Hetzel from Down to Earth in an magazine back in 2008.  Sadly I have just discovered that Rhonda has closed her blog completely and is no longer on IG either.  I knew she was not wanting to contribute anymore to the blog or comments but I had hoped her blog would remain online as it was a huge source of information for me over the last nearly 18 years.

I was just going through my blogs I used to read which are linked on the side and so many of them have closed over the years.  Todays fast paced social media is so different than the days of blog posts.  Every morning I would make a coffee and read through my favourite blog posts with words and photos and recipes, crocheting and life of other Mums.  Then Instagram [IG] came along and it was back then a photo sharing app which was also nice but then because of Tik Tok [I've never been on it nor do I have any desire to] IG made everyone do reels [little videos] and hence the fast pace quick vidoes and stories which are gone in 24 hours took over from people's blogs.  It's actually so sad because we are consuming more and more social media than ever before and short form content like reels on IG is just that short form.

I have been getting into watching long form content on Youtube which is more enjoyable, sitting down with a cuppa and watching a 30 minute video about gardening, cooking, homesteading, camping or people's lives from the opposite side of the world.  I find it interesting and worth while rather than scrolling on my phone however I still do that way more than I should which I think everyone can relate to in 2026.

A few people I follow on IG have started saying they feel that photos on IG is what we are all missing where you can look at an image and study it and appreciate it rather then a half a second of an image in a reel, I think we are all getting sick of the fast pase of social media but it's also very addictive to scroll as well.

Not too sure how many people read my blog these days but this blog is a record of our lives and recipes over the years.  I often refer back to things I've posted here and more than likely it's a recipe of some sort.  I did print out my blog each couple of years which a company called "blog to print" and sadly they shut down too because blogs were a thing of the past.  Here's a few photos from recent times.

Home made sourdough bread.

My sister bought this when we were at Woodford on the way back from camping.

This is my caramel fudge recipe.

Meal prepping.

My new water bottle.

I made this Elderberry Syrup after going to a

Winter Wellness Workshop at Vitalia in Brisbane.

You have 10ml a day unless you are sick in which case you have it every 2-3 hours.

This crustless quice was really lovely from Carly Fowler on IG.

See recipe below this pic.

Carly Flower’s Crustless Spinach Quiche

📝 Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup fresh spinach (roughly chopped)
• 1 medium tomato (sliced or chopped)
• ½ cup cottage cheese
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Salt & pepper, to taste

---

👩‍🍳 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a medium baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and egg whites.
3. Stir in cottage cheese, sour cream, parmesan, cheddar, flour, and baking powder.
4. Fold through spinach and tomato. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Pour mixture into prepared dish and smooth the top.
6. Bake for 30–40 minutes, or until set and lightly golden on top.
7. Rest for 5–10 minutes before slicing.

---

💡 Notes

• Great for meal prep (keeps 3–4 days in fridge)
• Can swap spinach for zucchini or kale
• Serve warm or cold with salad

One of my favourite books.

Home made date loaf which is delicious.

I'll have to do a post on the lovely date loaf recipe as it's super quick and easy so stay tuned.

Around here May 2026

My last post was in January and here we are nearly at the end of May.  Time just seems to fly by and I have already been in my new place 9 months now which seems to have gone so fast.

One of the downsides to living in a townhouse is being close to the neighbours which for first 6 of the 9 months has been a nightmare with a barking sausage dog right next door to me.  We have 7 dogs in 8 townhouses so we are all very dog friendly and have no problems with dogs.

We understand dogs will bark from time to time however the townhouse next door had a sausage dog that barked night and day.  Everyone complained for many months and finally the tenants were asked to leave at the 6 month mark so life has been very peaceful since then thank goodness.  The main problem was they were out all day and the dog was left outside and just constanly barked.  I also had never heard them call the dogs name in that whole time which is so weird ie they never told it off for barking or called it inside.  Life is very peaceful again and I'm thankful they were tenants and not owners.

Look at my cute dogs face, little Teddy.

On the downsizing front, my single garage still has lots of boxes to go through but I'm taking my time because there's decluttering and there's decluttering.  I have a whole china cabinet of stuff in 2 large boxes which I haven't even unpacked.  I sold my china cabinet from my old house as there is no room in my small living area so there's no point getting those things out of the boxes as there is no where to put them.  I don't want to donate all of it because they are my things that I love so for now my single car garage is my storage area.  It's a process and over time I'll go through them again but for now I'm giving myself grace as it was a huge year in 2025 getting the house ready for sale, getting rid of 90% of my furniture.  Also moving to a smaller space takes time to rework where things can go and adopting new storage solutions in a small space takes some creativity.

The back garden has grown heaps and is lovely and green and I've finally planted my Glen Large Garlic which I got a couple of months ago.  I've got seedlings to plant however I've run out of space so I'll have to remove a few of the summer basil and rocket in order to do so.  

As you know I love photography but haven't done much since the kids are now young adults and it's been a big part of my life that has been missing which brought me so much joy.  I'm not really into food photography as in styling for food photography even though I take pictures of things I bake.  Recently I came across a youtube channel of a Street Photographer called Mike Chudley and I would like to try of this out at some point.  I love the way he talks about his street photography like it's a lovely way to get out of the house, getting a good coffee, getting in your step count for the day and if you get some good pics it's a bonus.  He says if he didn't have a camera he wouldn't be at some lonely seaside town in the rain looking for things to photograph.   He said he has visited lots of places because he has a camera and he gets out and about to explore places he otherwise wouldn't.  I love this way of thinking and would have to agree.

For the last few months my friend and I have been doing a little iPhone project sending each other a photo a day.  I pop them side by side in a little grid with the date and send it back to her.  It's so simple and a lovely way to keep in touch daily without the need for a full on phone conversation in between coffee catch ups.

Another thing I have had to downsize is my camping equipment as we are no longer camping as a family.  We had a 3 room tent which I sold before I moved house and I also sold 4 large stetcher beds that were really heavy and took up a lot of space. I have now bought a Coleman Northstar Instant Up 6 Lighted Darkroom Tent which I love. My friend and I are going to start going camping and we went in March to test out the new tent.

It's weird to me that the camping industry still measures tent capacity using the absolute maximum number of sleeping bodies that can physically fit on the floor — not how people actually camp.  The rating system came from lightweight hiking/backpacking logic, where saving weight mattered more than comfort. Manufacturers kept using those numbers because bigger capacity figures sell better.  Ideally you half the number so a 6 person tent in reality holds 3 people and in our case one stretcher on one side, one on the other and a walkway between the two with Teddy in between at the head of the stretcher.

I was going to go for the 4 person tent as it packed up smaller however the inside measurements would only fit the stretchers and there would be no room for a back pack at the end of the bed.  I'm super happy with what I got because it's a good internal size and it comes with strip lighting on the ceiling that you either pop batteries in the battery pack or use a USB power bank which is very handy having lighting already installed.  Also it has darkroom technology and I swear when your eyes were open or shut in the tent it was the same darkness so makes it easy to go to sleep at night.

I also bought a small stretcher which packs up to 28cm so it all helps with having smaller items to store in the garage and having smaller items to pack in the car to go camping.  Here's a few photos from the first camping trip in about 5 years.

Our camp site set up.

Beautiful and shady area.

A bit of crosswords and a snack, I think Teddy was wanting some too.

Sitting by the campfire.

Nothing better than sitting by a campfire.

Camp dinner of spaghetti bolognese.

Until next time...Kathy