Peaceful Alignment

Tonight's menu plan was one designed to optimise youthful engagement and clear out the fridge of an assortment of odds and ends.  What better way to do that than with a pizza? 

Today the youngster bounded down the driveway with glee.  The long awaited purchase had arrived.  Armed with some Christmas cash we headed to the local shopping centre in search of an Enderman.  Parents who have children who play Minecraft are nodding now.  Turns out and Enderman is $18.  At the shocking news of the cost of have it now, the arms went on the hips and there was a gasp, frown and then a disgusted "that's too expensive". 

We had done our homework and knew that from Hong Kong and Enderman would set us back about $4 all up.  Only catch with Hong Kong is that you have to wait.  There is a double parenting lesson in that one from me, watch the money and be prepared to pay more to have instant gratification.  We in fact picked up a special Enderman that you cannot buy locally, and for the pleasure we were prepared to part with $5.80!

 

Pizzas are cool, so the apron was donned in a flash, along with Minecraft PJ's (yep, thanks Santa) and of course our new found friend offered assistance.

With the benefit of a no homework night, there is a little spare time.  Enough to have the budding chef do most of the work, without shedding a drop of blood when armed with the sharp knife.

One of the joys of pizza night is the quick check of the pantry to see if there are marshmallows present.  Check check, good to go.  Mummy had already ensured that the wood pile was well stocked from pre-lawn mowing checks, the small dropping branches quickly transformed into wood fire ready status and stacked beside the oven.  As the oven temperature prepares, the good chef scours the yard in search of the perfect roasting stick.

Living on the Western suburbs, our deck gives just the right place to be sitting to watch the sun go down.  Tonight we prepared a hasty picnic outside and sat back to enjoy the show.  With the relaxed atmosphere the opportunity to bond and talk about your day, life and answer many of the "Why" questions.  It is a time that I am sure in years to come we will both look back on and remember fondly.  Especially the lime green PJ's.

Our cost per pizza has certainly come way down, and the $200 or so dollars we spent a few years ago has been well worth the memories it has created.  Welcome to the family Mr or Ms Enderman ;-)

 

Our First Mango!

One of the things we have loved about our acreage is the great delight we have taken in planting trees and plants and then harvesting.  We have enjoyed many an hour pottering around.  A few years ago we were given a mango tree, and with a ceremonious hole digging session, we plonked the little tree in.

It has been carefully watched each year in anticipation about what may one day come.  This year the little baby mangoes were everywhere and the family was giddy with excitement.  Of course then came the Summer storms and off the little darlings went.

We have since held our breathe, waiting to see how many would actually make it through.  And the lucky number is.....

Excellent counting!  Four!  The smallest one has now ripened sufficiently enough to be picked and transporting to our kitchen awaiting eating.  We will of course practice our seed growing as I attempt to harvest the pip out of the husk in a few weeks time.  It is akin to oyster shucking!  You prise the thing open, often stabbing yourself in the process, just to try and grab out the middle.  At least this thing is not all slimy and ready to be eaten!

Our first attempt grew roots but some how lost its way, more destined for the garbage bin instead of a ceremonious hole digging session.  Given that we have loads of patience, we shall simply try again with another few husks until we gain some success.


 

Santa's Feast

During the school vacation program the kids made reindeer food.  I doubt even a reindeer could prepare for the mixture of oats, sugar and glitter.  I am sure it is the recipe that helps them fly.  Despite that, our plans for healthy eating this year have done remarkably well.  There were sufficient apple and carrots for each of the reindeer, and I was instructed to Google to make sure we had exactly enough!  Santa of course likes milk, and this Santa loves Tim Tams :-)

The great news is that self sufficiency has taken over, and I am no longer needed for any prep work.

 

Preparing for Christmas

At nine, the spirit and excitement of Santa Clause are no doubt approaching the end.  For this year, the letter to Santa was quickly drafted without the assistance of mum.  And at nine, well we are all good for taking up both sides of the A4 page for Santa.  Upon inspecting said letter to Santa, this is what I found;

In the bottom left hand corner was a please turn over notation.  Just in case Santa is not good at understanding primary school writing, there are some pictures to help guide the way.  Although letters to Santa are all about what I want, I was really pleased that she left the door open for Santa to get anything else he wanted, and letting him know that was "okay"!

 

Before I headed out to post the letter, I noticed that it had had a minor revision.

 



 

Business Updates

It has been a very exciting month on the business planning front.  The company name has been successfully registered, which has allowed for the marketing to be started.  A good company needs a logo, a website, email....and the list goes on.  In my logo research I found a stack off companies that would help, for about $400+.  During the research I did manage to stumble across a company that could deisgn the logo, design all the stationery, design the website, host it for 12 months, register the domain name, create the emails and host them for 12 month, all for a fixed fee of $650.

The logo design was spectacular.  One afternoon I posted up a paragraph about some colour selections and what the business was going to do.  When I awoke the next morning, there was nine funky designs to selection from, and after one iteration the logo was done.

The website has been a little slower, but that is more about my thinking processes.  I did realise after asking some questions that the design house was almost certainly outsourced to India.  Regardless of that, I have zero complaints there. 

The web hosting fine print meant that I missed the fact I couldn't have an ".au" ending.  There was a number of other options, but I felt the ".au" was important.  The company sent me the detail of a domain registration company, and with a few short clicks and a small fee, I was away.

From there everything flowed well, until I found out that the design company had been blacklisted on several spamming sites.  That meant my company emails were often either sent to the receiving inbox under a spam folder, or simply blocked.  Turns out when I ask about this little dilemma, no reply is received.  Thankfully the domain company also hosts, and with a few short clicks and another small fee, I am migrated over to the new mail server.

I sourced a printer and the newly designed business cards look amazing, and they have surely impressed the people who have received them.  I also managed to endure a photography session for some updated profile shots.  Regrettably, I wouldn't recommend that company again.  But he did lead me to a company that digitised my logo and printed it on some hats.  Those hats then got added to the Christmas gifts to my client.  It was very cute to see the boys wearing my hats down the street after our meeting in a local coffee shop.

So for now, I am signing off from my current working location, for a lunch date with some executives from a course we attended last year.  More networking!  Although the weather looks dreary in the shot, the temperature drop from the 40 degree days is a welcome change.

Financial Planning for Teenagers

I have been watching on the sidelines as the young  family teenager navigates her way into adulthood.  Getting a driver's license, enrolling to vote, being able to go out and live

an exciting adult life.  It is what all youngsters dream of, isn't it?

The trick about parenting is making sure that you set up your children with all the skills they need to navigate the world with.  It is certainly my approach with my own child.  I guess I am super aware of how hard life can be when you don't have a parent there to guide you.  I try and make sure that my child has a strong sense of self, is confident, well balanced and grounded.  I want her to be able to navigate life, independently, and my approach to parenting is designed to support this concept.

Back to the teenager.  She has a personal loan for a car, and a trail of part time jobs.  The neighbour up the road regularly drops in mail from when they used to live in our street, many years ago.  I hear whispers that income tax returns are not being lodged, so I made some attempts at helping to steer from afar.  After all these have gone unheard, I bluntly said bring all your stuff here and I will sort you out.

There was relief from the niece as she arrived with a shopping bag of stuff!  So I have been spending some random moments of spare time trying to assemble a financial plan for this disaster!  Turns out that mail arrives from companies, some is opened, some is not.  The reader doesn't understand the contents, or care to.  I suspect there are many reasons, age appropriate ones of this stuff is not that important to me right now, and others like OMG what is this even saying, do I need to keep this, and URGH maybe I will look at this later.

There are many bank accounts, many superannuation policies, and many attempts by many people to try and get something happening from their correspondence.  But the sad end result is that this lack of life skills is actually impacting on the financial future of the individual concerned.  It is frankly quite scary to be watching unfold.

Every few days I send a nag email.  It is like a virtual nag note!  They are little emails with instructions on who to ring, what to ask for etc.  Slowly I will start to build some confidence and understanding about what one should be doing here.  Once we have some basics, a darn good clean up of accounts and some organisation about what to do, and who to ask if you don't know, maybe we can start to get a financial plan happening.

Replacing Vehicles

As I was posting up an article a few moments ago,  this image appeared at the bottom of one of the blogs;

My partner is going through the process of replacing the family car.  Coincidentally, both our vehicles are the same vintage, with about the same mileage on the clocks.  I have been procrastinating about replacing mine for many kilometres!  I had intended to do it a couple of financial years ago.  I see the transaction pop up in Microsoft Money, and I simply push it out another 12 months. 

I really like my vehicle, but as I contemplate the arrival of a new vehicle, it reminds me that I am due for a service, I have an oil leak, the scratch cannot be fixed without respraying the whole door, and a kid scootered down the other side leaving a nice scratch, and did I mention that my blue tooth connection for the phone is also not working?  Seems like a car destined for replacing now doesn't it.

I would love to replace it with the black Range Rover Evoque pictured above.  But the image on the other side talks about business plan strategy!  The accountant says return when you earn $400k or before if one of the other requirements arises.  $400k is hard work and long hours, and frankly not what this Gen X with a mantra of 'Balance' is going to be undertaking.  In deciding how much income is enough, I reverted to my trusty series of spreadsheets.  The retirement planning spreadsheet says I am about a year ahead of my progress goal.  The mortgage spreadsheet says I am six months ahead...BUT...it says that next year that I will revert to being on track, and behind if I do not pull my finger out by the end of the year!

Behind, big frown.  It did make me look at an income tracking spreadsheet.  Things are not as easy with fluctuating incomes streams over multiple clients!  Also, contracting doesn't come with annual leave or sick leave. Despite what you may think, this is an absolute positive.  I control how much I work, and this year I have had more time off than I normally would, absolutely guilt free, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  On one occasion I worked from the resort for a few hours before the family headed out for Thai overlooking the water.  The next morning the adults headed out for a run beside the beach.  It's the control over life that I am enjoying most about consulting and contracting.

Back to the car.  If I replace it now and buy the lovely vehicle my heart desires, then next year I am frantically working my arse off to pay for it and still achieve the financial goals, or I move out the milestone.  But if the milestone moves, then so will the following one.  The one after the mortgage is the retirement plan to the beach.  I want to be able to trek up and enjoy it on weekends whilst the kids are finishing school, then work on more time at the beach and less time working!  The pull to that goal is stronger than the one to the new car.

After $1,000 the car is serviced, and all three oil leaks found have been fixed.  The scratch I can live with for now, and the phone is annoying, but I will get BMW to take a look at that one in the not too distant future.  I may even go and get the car all detailed, just as a special treat for seeing in the New Year :-).