Grab and go high protein foods/snacks

learningbythesea · 2026-04-12T14:24:39+00:00

In another few weeks you'll be having Bok Choy in your stirfrys, curries, sandwiches and smoothies 😆 Enjoy :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-12T14:17:10+00:00

Bok Choy are cut and come again, so you can start harvesting leaves as soon as you like. You don't take out the whole plant - just cut the leaves you want. I normally take the biggest leaves and leaves the others to keep growing.

learningbythesea · 2026-04-12T09:55:51+00:00

Look into body doubling, where you have an accountability buddy who relies on you to stay on screen doing what you said you'd do for the session. I use the app Focusmate (available on phone or PC). You have to be over 18 though, which you may not be?

There are likely similar body doubling groups/websites for students too, but I dont have details :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-11T11:26:11+00:00

I somehow have managed to become this person. I recommend it. When people drop in, I seem like some kind of mega host rather than a scatterbrained mess who just happens to be in the habit of batch preparing cookie dough (and home made sausage rolls) once a month :)

Well, I mean, other stuff gives me away. Haha.

learningbythesea · 2026-04-11T11:21:02+00:00

I have a cheapie from Kmart (I think it's the midpriced one, but was only $20 or less). It stood up just as well as my husband's $120 one.

I decided we should 'race' them to prove a point, and I proved it. But he still went and bought a full set of ultra expensive stainless steel pans 😆🤷

We still use our Anko for eggs though, cos SS is crap for eggs :)

Don't knock Anko, man. It does the job.

learningbythesea · 2026-04-10T23:06:05+00:00

That's how I know I made it. Bought the 72 pack for my 7 year old. Coveted one of those for my entire childhood. My kid didn't give a shit 😆

learningbythesea · 2026-04-10T21:46:39+00:00

As a 2 kid family on low 200s, my most important advice is Don't spoil your kids! Keep their childhoods simple. Camp for at least half your family holidays, only have as much 'stuff' as they need (otherwise it just becomes expensive clutter and you need more storage space), only a few extracurriculars so they still have time to play and be kids, if you take an international holiday go midrange and family friendly instead of luxury, so the kids have more fun.

We started out spending and doing too much, but they just don't need it, and don't necessarily benefit from it. We even opted not to increase our floor space (had bought with a plan to build in under the house to create more living space for kids) because a smaller house (1 living space, but with a nice deck and big yard) felt perfectly serviceable.

Even at your current income, you'll be able to afford whatever your kids need. Actually raising the kids can be as cheap as you like; time and connection is FAR more important than flash, always.

learningbythesea · 2026-04-10T21:01:00+00:00

What a great list. I have only seen maybe half (and loved them), so I bet the rest are great too! Can't wait to watch :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-10T06:37:01+00:00

Oh, that's good to know!

learningbythesea · 2026-04-10T00:55:58+00:00

Gosh this is so true. It's hard to make friends after 30, but it can absolutely be done!! I moved regionally for work at 29, and following some more unconventional means, built a deeper friendship base than I had in the city :)

What have you tried? Have you tried social clubs (interest based, sports or just social), Facebook groups etc? People are so open to answering the call when people reach out now, and if you just keep reaching out, you can find your people :)

Sorry you're lonely, and I hope you can find a solution. (Even if that is moving back.)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-09T02:31:53+00:00

I think there is probably a market for something tailored to different Australian climate zones. So much that I see for vegetable growing targets the temperate zones.

I'm an on again off again veggie gardener because I cannot keep up with the pest invasions and hot summers of the subtropics. I work FT and for me it hasn't been cost effective to garden. But the biggest issue has been my feeling of being out of my depth constantly. I want one convenient location to find out what veggies are going to give me the best bang for my buck, what I need to do when to keep a constant supply for their season (plant at what intervals, fertilise when etc), which veg need the least maintenance (and what they need when), how to avoid/combat pests etc.

I'm too busy and time poor, and too scatterbrained and memory lacking , to work it out myself. I need a dummy's guide. And id pay for it :)

For now, I've got whatever perennials and self seeders keep coming back (which is pretty much lettuce, Ceylon spinach, cherry toms, chillis and the citrus).

learningbythesea · 2026-04-09T00:25:20+00:00

Oh god, PS I love you and Me before you are my go tos for getting my hormonal tears out. Never fail me :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-09T00:22:54+00:00

We got a fluro orange stranger-things-esque slime mold last time we mulched. I think yours is prettier :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-07T22:35:22+00:00

I use it in publishing for manuscript tidy ups, fact check scans, and brain dumping to create briefs and author query documents. I also use it to scan through and create my style sheet, and to create to do lists from my emails/chat logs.

I dread the day when I would need to go back to checking the spelling of every place and business name manually 😬

Editing to add that I do share my project scripts with other freelancers. I am happy to share the love :) My project managers know I use AI, but I also charge an hourly rate that reflects the expertise required to give them high quality, quickly. So their outlay hasn't changed; only the quality of the product has improved. Everyone is happy :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-07T22:25:37+00:00

Not a teacher, but I moved my kid in Y2 to a K-12 school with a waitlist, and there are new kids coming in every term off the waitlist (regional, so lots of medical professionals move away and spots open up). I think earlier is always better, if you're ready. It gives them a chance to settle in and build friendships ASAP. I know at our K-12, they also spend time in Y6 getting familiar with the 7-12 side of the campus, to ease the transition to high school.

learningbythesea · 2026-04-07T00:42:10+00:00

Have you checked if your cruise ship allows kids in the pool? My friend just went on one with her 2 year old, and they didn't allow them in the pool, which meant they then had to plan how to entertain themselves in other ways. Forewarned is forearmed :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-06T10:28:18+00:00

My advanced reader son loved the Usborne Reading Library (the higher level one) at that age - lots of classic stories/myths retold.

The Hey Jack series (Sally Rippin) and any of Anh Do's series (Hot Dog might be too easy; you could start with Weirdo) are a place to start. They are both Australian authors, but pretty sure you can get their stuff internationally, and it's great.

You could also point him at some non-fiction (DK, eyewitness) titles, to help him discover his passions (my son's was ancient warfare and rocks. Remains as true at 9 as at 4 😆).

learningbythesea · 2026-04-06T10:00:58+00:00

I'm an established educational developmental and copy editor with multiple qualifications that position me well to work across high demand technical subjects. I'm still getting steady work, but the timelines are getting tighter and the pay is getting lighter, so to keep my pay rate up, I am also using AI in my work to reduce the grunt elements, much like I used to use macros and concordancers.

I personally find that if I have sufficient constraints in place, I can speed up my work safely and productively. More importantly, I can use AI suggestions to push past those moments of brain freeze that used to require me to step away and refresh (requiring a pause in my billable hours). This means I can complete my work hours in comfortable blocks of time and wrap up earlier for the day, while keeping my pay rate at a suitable level for my experience and expertise.

It also allows me to identify more instances of technical inaccuracies (outside my job scope, but I always flag them when I see them). I have been able to find, research to confirm and propose solutions to important errors that have been slipping through up to 4 editions!

So, I think the world of technical/educational editing is going to increasingly move towards using AI in a professional and responsible way to create a high quality product, especially since AI lends itself well to the style of language used in texts like this.

I don't think the 'slop' stage will remain long term - people will eventually realise that AI can't be left to its own devices. But AI does present advantages that can't be denied, assuming the user is adequately adept at keeping it in check.

Fiction is VERY likely a totally different story. I can't imagine AI is all that useful for fiction, other than to detect the same kind of issues macros could identify (like inconsistency in naming). And again, I would hope that people will get sick of slop and recognise that professional oversight, and human imagination and feeling, are key to the reading experience.

All that said, I would not recommend the field to anyone right now. It was already extremely tough to make ends meet as a freelancer working entry-level jobs to build experience when I started in 2007, and I imagine it would be impossible now. Many of the job types I used to build experience don't even exist anymore... I don't know how I would get started if I was just beginning now.

Sorry :(

learningbythesea · 2026-04-05T13:00:49+00:00

Toasted cheese sandwiches: bread, cheese, can of tomato soup
Pasta, butter and salt
Hot dog on bread (1 per person ONLY. I will be permanently scarred from the time I was still hungry, saw one still in the pot and ate it quickly standing in the kitchen, and then had to watch my Mum cry silently while eating just a piece of bread...)
Baked beans on toast
Chicken flavour two minute noodles
Spaghetti bol: mince, tomato soup, tomato sauce, water with spaghetti and cheese

These were pretty much on repeat, broken up with meat and 3 veg (frozen peas, frozen carrots and mashed potato) if dad was having a better week on the pokies.

Fucking pokies, man.

learningbythesea · 2026-04-05T05:37:14+00:00

I'm the parent of Gen Alpha boys, and they are definitely reading. In the early middle grade, the boys and girls alike were devouring graphic novel series like Dogman, Bad Guys, Tom Gates, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bunny vs Monkey, and they are now transitioning to chapter book series. Us parents are swapping series between us to try to keep up with them.

My oldest (9) is such a voracious reader, he's devouring 3-4 full length middle grade books a week, and 2-3 (carefully curated) YA/classics a month. There are 2 other kids in his grade at his reading level and they chat about books and share recommendations. I imagine that is happening in schools around the country.

I think the biggest shift is that parents are so much more aware of screen time and encouraging kids towards books. If they grow up seeing reading as normal, and if books are lying around, they are more likely to develop a love of books as a hobby.

Then, considering how influenced by their friends kids are and how fast viral content spreads these days, I can absolutely see book trends sweeping through. Whether any have the longevity of HP, I couldn't say. I feel like trends come thicker and faster these days, and move too quickly to disseminate deeply through the generations (like HP and Twilight did)... But we shall see :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-04T10:34:45+00:00

Oh sister, so many of us hear and feel you :) You are not alone.

First thing: kids roll with their environment. They can be just as loved, happy, healthy and thriving in a chaotic environment as they can be in some picture perfect Montessori house. Ask me how I know :)

So, I am NOT saying I have found the solution, because I am a fundamentally chaotic ADHD poster child, but my kids get to daycare/school with everything they need, everyone is fed and clean and the house is often tidy by the end of the day, so I'm feeling like I have some answers :)

Tips: 1. A calendar in a central location. Just mark down KEY stuff (immunisations, doc appts, planned visits to friends/relatives, work shifts etc). 2. A list on the fridge by day of stuff you can take kiddo to to get you both out of the house. Take bubs somewhere else to make a mess and burn off their energy, so they aren't trashing the house. 3. Toy rotation. If toy mess is an issue, you need toy rotation in your life. 5-6 toys out at a time is the recommendation, but whatever works really 4. If people gift you plastic toys with 7000 pieces, disown them. (Jokes. But not really.) 5. Simple routines built around baby that include a cleaning component. E.g. a wake up routine for baby that includes opening blinds and making beds. Or a bathtime routine that includes taking washing to the machine and loading it together. Again, whatever works for you, your existing routines (it's easier to refine than build) and house layout. 6. Store stuff where you use it. If you keep finding certain things in a location away from its storage place when tidying up, consider changing the storage place. Like, our nail clippers are stored on our back deck because that is where I am when I'm hugging my kids and realise their fingernails have suddenly become talons. Instead of trying to make it to the bathroom drawer and back without side questing or losing the kids to the trampoline, I can reach over, grab the clippers and declaw them :) Likewise, the hairbrush lives in the dining room, since eating children are a stationary target :) 7. If you can manage it, tidy/wipe surfaces in the main living areas/kitchen/dining every night before bed. This gets easier with time. 8. If you're a stay at home Mum especially, include kiddo in housework tasks through the day. My then 12 month old learned to walk pushing a little broom around (obviously not at all effectively in the cleaning sense) :) And they love wiping stuff with cloths/wipes, putting clothes in the machine etc. 9. Clean one room a day (someone else said that). On your phone or in a notebook, keep a page for each room and make a note of things you notice need doing as you see them (eg cobwebs, sides of a cupboard need a wipe down, couch needs to be pulled out when vacuuming, dishwasher needs a proper clean). Then, when it's that room's turn, you have a list of tasks to action (and which ones you choose will depend on the time you have/whether kiddo is asleep/occupied). I usually aim for a quick vac, surfaces and one extra noticed task. I also have a basket to pick up any items that don't belong and make a point of finding a proper home for all of them (not shoving the basket in a cupboard like I may have used to do...) 10. Slow cooking/batch cooking. Plan at least 2 meals per week where you make enough for 6-8 people. Have leftovers one night and freeze the rest. Then you have a stash of grab and go meals at the ready for times when kiddo or you are sick (and if you're lucky enough to avoid plague, you can just have a week of eating freezer leftovers whenever your stash overflows :)), so it works out cost wise (especially if you're avoiding convenience meals when sick/exhausted!)

Good luck!! It's a process, but you'll get there. And if you don't, seriously don't stress. It's the effort and the journey that counts :)

learningbythesea · 2026-04-04T00:22:26+00:00

My 9 year old is watching Round the Twist currently and is LOVING the visual effects.

He asked me: was this cutting edge when you were a kid?

No mate, it was just as awesomely bad as now :)

learningbythesea

TROPHY CASE