ferrousland.com - daily news archives
Monday, April 04, 2005
came out to find me - 07:40 PM
(filed under 'baby')
usually when smiley wakes up from a nap he'll sit in his cot, or at the most, move across to our bed (our bed & his cot are pushed together side by side) & sit having a little cry or just a whinge waiting for me to come & get him.
just before he woke up & i heard him doing his little huffy thing. i hopped up from my desk straight away & went into the dark bedroom to lie down beside him .. but i almost ran into him right near the door!
he'd got off the bed all by himself, in record time, & was heading out to the lounge room to find me. perhaps this is the beginning of him growing up & not needing me to be there for him immediately.
my baby boy is growing up!! *sniffle*
saving the pulp from the juicer - 06:01 PM
(filed under 'green living')
if you have a juice extractor, i thought i'd pass along an idea i had for saving the pulp when you do any fruits or veggies in it. i'm sure others have thought of this before, but i'll put it in here anyway for those that haven't.
take a little more care to prepare the fruits or vegetables before you juice them to cut off or out any bits which you wouldn't eat if you were eating it whole, such as peeling the carrots, coring the apples, etc.
put a plastic bag inside the pulp bin to catch anything which the juicer spits out the non-drinking end & keep the contents in the freezer to use in cooking later, then you're wasting hardly any of the fruit or vegetables & losing less nutrients & fibre.
as an example of how to use the pulp, i've used carrot leftovers from the juicer to put into a spaghetti bolognaise. it helps to thicken it up really well with something that's healthy. you might also be able to use the carrot leftovers in a carrot cake (although don't trust me on that one since i've never actually made a carrot cake). almost any type of vegetable pulp might also be good in a vegetable stir fry or in the mince for making rissoles.
fruit pulp could be mixed with cordial & frozen in those kids ice block things to make slightly healthier ice blocks.
you could use almost any leftovers of your fruits or vegetables in heaps of different ways. it would take a little more work again, but i'd suggest separating the different types into different bags, because then your options are more open for reusing it later.
it's a brilliantly sneaky way to get your family eating more vegetables & fruit without them having a clue & also a great way to lessen the waste from your juice extractor.
markets are go - 09:12 AM
(filed under 'creative')
i went to the markets yesterday morning & checked them out. i think it's a go-er. i'm going to set up a stall there next month.
i want to display my jewellery properly so that people can see that it's quailty stuff, not just junk jewellery, so i've bought some display thingamies (i was going to link to them, but stupid ebay isn't letting me into my account, so i can't) such as a bust for necklaces, two bracelet displays & a kind of 'wave' display. it looks like a wave, that's about the best i can describe it.
i've also bought some little velvet pouches to put the jewellery in once someone buys it.
you see, it's all about perceived value. something's actual value can be as high as you like, but unless people believe that it's worth the price you set, then they're not going to want to pay what you ask.
if i have my jewellery just lying around on a bare table, then people will perceive that it's just cheap junk jewellery. my jewellery, however, is made from sterling silver & semi-precious gemstones, so it should be treated & displayed as such. that's why i've bought the nice white leatherette displays.
i'll have a black cloth on the table & i'll have the jewellery hung nicely on the displays. each piece will be tagged with its price, what it's made from, i.e. sterling silver or silver plated copper (i made some of my earlier stuff from the silver plated copper wire until i felt i was a bit better at it & wouldn't 'waste' expensive sterling silver wire), what gemstones & beads are on it & i might even give each one a name as we have on shop dot wiccked. i think it personalises them & shows that i believe each piece has personal value to me.
i'm also going to get a small number of business cards printed up with my details on them so that if someone doesn't want to buy anything that month, they can still contact me, even if they're not local. it looks much more professional to have cards available, too.
i'm trying to keep the startup costs of this as low as possible & i think i'm doing okay. i've calculated that it's costing about $200 to get the things i need. that's not bad at all. the things i'm buying (well, except the business cards, of course) are also able to be resold, so i won't (well, shroom won't, since he's the one paying for it all) be too out-of-pocket if it doesn't work out.
i've tried a few ventures since since shroom & i have been together, previous to smiley & since he was born, to help bring in even just a small amount of money, or even a full wage, but none of them have really worked out. shroom's a bit trepidatious & i can understand why, but i really am trying.
i really enjoy making the jewellery & i feel as though i can put myself into it creatively. i want to do well at this.
good moods all 'round - 08:38 AM
(filed under 'general')
there must have been some quality sleep happening last night in our house, because everyone seems to be in a good mood this morning. smiley's happy & chatty. shroom was happy & chatty - which is very rare for him in the mornings. he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a morning person.
i'm still tired, but i'm feeling as though i'm in my normal morning mode. nothing extra specially happy or not happy, just the usual, you know?
last week it seemed as though no one (not even friends & family i were talking to) was sleeping very well but that seems to have resolved itself .. at least in our little household. maybe the moon's changed position or something.
ferrous
gmail
com
