Chocolate cake! Doesn't it look good??? Of course we all had a piece before i realised that i wanted to take a photo of it first whoops, sorry children come first and this way you can see what the inside looks like!
Yesterday morning Ben organised for us to have a climate smart home service. Our government has recently been organising rebates for things like insulation, solar water heaters and solar panels for houses. They also have a package called the Climate smart home service. It costs $50. A qualified sparky comes out and replaces all your light bulbs with the new energy efficient design bulbs, a new shower head for the shower (water saving shower head) and installs and wireless energy monitor into the electricity box. The sparky came out this morning, (just made it through flood waters to get to us lol).
I love the monitor. It shows you how many kW is being used and how many cents per hour that amount costs. It also has the temperature and records previous days, weeks and months. So we can work out what is using the most power and cut down on its usage.. Brilliant, although when the sparky left we had a play with it turning on everything and testing how much power it uses.... Yes, so we will start saving money maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, once we've used everything at least once or twice on different settings... We also got in the pack a thermometer, with markings of best temperatures for our fridge, freezer, air conditioning, heating etc So i am now testing everything and adjusting to suit... Now this is all in aid of
1. cutting down our power bill and
2. cutting the bill also means less power usage which means less the power companies have to produce..etc, I'm sure you all understand!! It's been in the news enough! lol.
Wireless monitor and thermometer. The sparky put all the bulbs in for us. Except the one in our room, our bed was in the way and he's not allowed to jump on our bed due to rules and regulations etc.. unfair for him! lol
So apart from our new toy, the rain has eased, but the flood waters are still up, our town has moderate flooding, just in the low lying creeks and valleys, local parks. As far as i know, no business have been affected. But some people are still unable to come to town or leave. Our friend stayed another night last night. She is hoping to get home this afternoon. We shall see, Ben went for a drive this morning and its starting to fall but slowly! Our 2 boys also have bad colds. Blue eyes is worse than cowboy. So its only just gone into Autumn and we have snot already!! Blue eye's also had a minor temp this morning, so i am watching that making sure it doesn't spike and result in a febrile convulsion.. I don't mind him having a temp when he is teething, at least he can breath through his nose. Right now his nose is so blocked and runny that it makes me worry just that little bit more.. When i picked up some medicine yesterday at the chemist our friend who works there suggested i put them on a kids multi vitamin to help stop or prevent so many winter colds.. But I will have to look into it more. Try and find the most natural one, and maybe a liquid form... Its investigation time! lol
Well I've now got to go hang some washing and do some more, try and catch up on everything before the next lot of Autumn rain!
* Eggless Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Method
1. Combine dry ingredients
2. Combine wet ingredients and stir into flour mixture.
3. Pour mixture into a 20cm round tin and bake at 175-180C for 25-35 minutes.
4. Stand for 10 minutes before turning out. Cake will be delicate while still hot.
Hi Cass
ReplyDeleteMy name is Melissa and I manage media and PR for the ClimateSmart Home Service. Each day I go online to check out what Queenslanders think of the service and I'm really excited about your blog. I'm glad you had such a positive experience and that you're now a happy ClimateSmart customer! To date, more than 155,000 Queenslanders have registered for the service. I'm keen to use customers' positive experiences to help promote greater awareness of the ClimateSmart Home Service to even more Queenslanders. Would you mind if I used your comments in a media release? And, would you mind perhaps being interviewed by the odd journalist about your experiences? If this sounds OK to you, please give me a call on 3017 6433.
Thanks, Mel**
Hi Cass, that is one goodlooking cake :) I think I'll have to give that one a go!
ReplyDeleteWe've had some snotty noses here too - Sam's temps have gone up a couple of times, nothing like what you've had to deal with though. WE've been using some of the Brauer's rememdies, they stock them in the chemists and they are very gentle and natural - we've used the "teething" one and the 'pain and fever" one. They might have something that will help with the snotface ;) I remember seeing one that dealt with colds. No idea on the multi though! I'd try the healthfood shop and see what they have :) hugs to you all oxoxox
First, that cake looks yummy. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
ReplyDeleteGlad the waters are begining to recede. Nothing fun about water damage.
And the whole saving energy thing is really great. Shhhh, I would be doing the same as you and Ben finding out what item used what amount. heee heeee
Hope Cowboy and Blue Eyes get over their colds fast. No fun having sick kids for you or them.