Free fun...

...is, well, fun! With the no spend rules in place we have been forced to look for free entertainment for Lila. For the most part the parks and walks work just fine but with the recent heatwave in Perth things were getting a little stir crazy in this house. We stumbled upon some information on the Perth Museum last week and after a quick google discovered it opened nice and early and was free. Luke looked up the transport side of things while I packed up some peanut butter sandwiches and fruit. We caught the bus which stopped on the corner of our street to the train station and then took the train into the city. We had such a fantastic day, hours of entertainment in lovely air-conditioning with Lila squealing in delight at all the things to see and do. We went outside and had our sandwiches under some shady trees and watched Lila run though the fallen leaves, splash in water features and explore the musical playground.
We had a bit of time to kill before we caught the train home and as we walked by the art gallery we thought..should we? In theory it was a disaster taking Lila the tornado into a snooty art gallery but in reality it was awesome! Who knew there was such a great play zone for children in there!

Relaxing in the museum

'Art'

Having a ball

With our New Zealand trip fast approaching I have been thinking about clothing, as I have very few warm clothes that fit me as I am considerably smaller than I was last winter. Usually I would have nipped down to the shops by now and bought the clothing I need, but in keeping with the rules I hit the op-shops and boy oh boy did I walk out with some bargains! I managed some jackets, pants, winter dresses, cardigans, long sleeve tops and track pants, quite a few of which still had tags on. After totalling what it would have cost me in the shops, I found I had got about $820.00 worth of clothes for a whopping $39.60! Very, very pleased.

I have struggled a little this week, perhaps that explains such a gap between posts! We're still going strong but the novelty has well and truly worn off. I've had an urge to buy, and I've had an urge to be lazy with my planning. Some days I have not wanted to cut up fruit before I head out with Lila and would much rather just grab something out. I've sat in a coffee shop with my mum while she ate and I sipped on tap water. I've had some really really hard days which included having a wallet stolen, then found, tripping and hurting my toe quite badly coupled with a toddler whose molars will just not cut through. It's those nights where dinner isn't even ready and it's 6:30 and all I want to say to Luke is "let's go get some fish and chips tonight, I can't be bothered." We're still here though, we're still in this journey and the hard days do pass. We haven't compromised and we have not given in to the oh so easy alternatives.

Most of the cloth nappies have arrived, the last order will come through this week. I dare say we will be full time cloth as of this week which is so exciting! Our 'no poo' journey is still going strong and I have a love hate relationship with my hair at the moment. I also have to let my readers know that I was truly blessed to receive a pack of blonde hair dye in the mail from a dear friend who had some she wasn't using sitting collecting dust in her cupboard. Along with the hair dye was a lovely gift of treats for hubby and I and some cute ducks for Lila to play with! Every day I am blown away by the generosity of people and the sheer volume of opportunities to re-use, repair and recycle if we take the time to scratch beneath the surface!