Almost time for school to begin again. Yay!

Doing: ...Feeling a bit ambivalent about January. Rhonda mentioned in a recent post that she finds January a bit "nutty" with the beginning of a new year, school holidays and so forth, and I have to say that her comments completely resonated with me. January (particularly this year) seems to be a haze of dealing with Christmas and New Year leftovers (food and otherwise), sorting out the house after guests, catching up with old friends in our annual get together and then finally getting ready for going back to pre-school and school. There's no routine as such and I seem to have spent the past few weeks feeling very slightly agitated all the time. The kids are completely bored with holidays and are being more than a little bit feral overenthusiastic; I think we are all looking forward to the routine that comes with a return to school. Water and electricity conservation has all but gone out the window; we aren't being frivolous but we (I) certainly haven't been as keen to take those extra steps to save energy and water as ususal. I'm too afraid to read my meters. Seriously. I think come February 1st (Friday) - which will the second day back of school and preschool - I will heave a big sigh of relief and settle myself back into working out a regular routine again... and be back on schedule for working towards a 90% reduction in our resource use.

...Whittling my Bloglines list from over 150 blog subscriptions to 103. Yes, I am aware that subscribing to 103 blogs is still in the realms of ridiculous. I just need to pause and strengthen my resolve before I boot another 50 off the list. So many interesting things to read and so little time!

...Sowing "Lazy Housewife" bean seeds for the third time. Third time's a charm, right?

Making: French bread sticks.

Picking: Eggplant, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers.

Dinner: Wholemeal spiral pasta with pesto and (the last of the) cherry tomatoes, garden salad and garlic bread (a homebaked french bread stick).

Contemplating: The forecast for a sunny day tomorrow - and therefore what to cook in the solar cooker. And a big day in the kitchen to get ready for school lunch boxes.