Day 249 Wordless Wednesday

Okay, just a few words... Enjoy! x

Day 248 More stuff

Want to know how I spent my quiet day alone? Online browsing and drooling over all the pretty things :) 

I'm in love with these shoes......

Far too high... but loving the colour and style!

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Tax..... it's done. Phew!

Chickpea & Pumpkin Casserole

I'm really stoked about this dish. It was really easy to make, lots of lovely fresh ingredients and really tasty. 

I'm going to cheat and just link you to the Recipe rather than writing it out - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20135/chickpea+and+pumpkin+casserole

Night all! xx

Day 248 Random Stuff

I love my husband, he knows me so well. I snuggled up in bed to watch some TV last night, feeling a little bit fragile in my 'out-of-sorts' state.. and in comes my soul mate, gives me the pep talk that I needed, said all the right things and managed to pull me up and walk me through the tunnel to the light at the end. Love him. 

My boys are at daycare, the house is clean, I did some work and am up to date, I have a coffee, 7th Heaven is on the TV (yes, it's my dirty little secret... I admit it, I love the show.. please don't judge me :), I have the day ahead of me.... oh how I needed this! 

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On Sunday I started, and finished, a book. 

Not usually the kind of book I gravitate towards, but Lewy had read it and said I would enjoy it. And boy did I enjoy it. I'm a big fan of true stories, and stories that I can learn from and take away some kind of lesson or insight from. Under and Alone is a story about an Undercover Agent who infiltrated America's most violent outlaw Motorcycle Gang The Mongols. William Queen spent 2 years undercover and the turmoil and challenges he went through and the life he had to pretend to live is unreal and his strength inspiring. He was responsible for bringing 54 of the members to justice for many crimes. It's not a happy, bright book that's for sure, but it is an insight into how others live and the battle between 'good' and 'evil'. I highly recommend it. 

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Let's go online shopping together at Ikea... some random things on my 'to buy at some stage' list :)

Some beautiful prints...

I love, love, love this frame! When I finally buy it, I plan on spray painting it either blue or green.... and finding something cool to put inside. You can buy this as a mirror also.

Some pots and fake plants... at least I know I can take care of these :)

I'll be back later as I want to share the recipe for a very cool Chickpea and Pumpkin Casserole that I'm making for dinner :) Have a beautiful peaceful day.... xxx

Day 246 & 247 The Park

Am I going through a mid mid-life crisis?! Let's face it, this year hasn't been fantastic. I'm in a total rut, I'm completely out-of-sorts, I'm all over the place! Somehow though.... I think this year is a massive learning curve for me. I'm out of control... and you all know how much I hate being out of control. But really, how much control do we actually have? Not much when you think about. Maybe that's the exact lesson I need to learn. Maybe I need to let go and chill out.

So today, being at home, me feeling overwhelmed again (looks like tidying my kitchen shelves and the boys play area didn't solve all my problems... funny that!). I took a few deep breaths and changed direction - straight to the park to chill out in the sun with my boys and get a little perspective.

It was a lovely few hours. Sunshine, throwing the ball, play ground, lunch, photos, cuddles...

Okay..so I can't control everything, probably nothing, but I'm still alive... hmmmm interesting.
Seeing my boys running around chasing the ball FAR outweighs staying home stressing about nothing in particular. And so what if my tax takes a bit longer to do, and I can't seem to get through my to do list, and I still need to lose weight and things are getting on top of me  ... not the end of the world.  It's not nice, that's for sure... but not the end of the world. (This is a pep talk for me... I'm sure you guys already know all this and are thinking 'well duh!. :)

So I'm going to change direction... Instead of sticking on the road of 'I'm in a rut, I need to lose weight, I'm stressed, being a stay at home mum is very hard (for me!), etc etc'

I'm going to turn Right at the next road of 'This a new beginning, I'll get my weight under control when I'm in the right space, it's not the end of the world and let's focus on the positives instead of the negatives'.

I came home from the park feeling refreshed and more myself. I'm so easy to please... give me fresh air, nature and time out to watch my boys run free and enjoy themselves.. and I'm happy.

Yes... this concerned me too!

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Now, onto the good stuff. 

Check this out. I can just read Sam's mind in this picture.. "Hmmm, Mum is at the bottom of the slide, Jacob is alone... I'm gonna push him"

Poor Jacob - fear on his face.. Sam - mischief and happiness.

Sam "Weeee! I did it! Off you go Jacob!"

Don't worry, I already knew that Jacob could handle the slide :) And by the time he got to the end he was laughing and laughing :) As was Sam of course.

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Now it might be just me.. but I think this is a pretty good drawing for a 3 year old! Sam drew himself and Jacob :)

I showed him these photos once I had downloaded them... he said "I forgot to put arms on!", then ran outside to add some arms. Love it!

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That's it for now.. tomorrow I've got to share with you about a book I just finished and some of my favourite things :) Goodnight my friends xxx

Day 245 Reflection

On reflection over the few days, in all its chaos and then re-organisation, I remembered some things that made me smile. Such simple things but I chose to spend time smiling and remembering them last night while the stress I felt before faded away.

1. Sam got a plastic container out of the cupboard, put some rice in it and made a shaker. The thing that made me smile, was that he then got 2 more containers out and made shakers for Jacob and I so that we didn't miss out on the shaking fun. Clever, creative and considerate boy!

2. While having a cuddle with Jacob, both of us sitting on the rug in the lounge room, Sam came to sit with us and Jacob moved off my lap so he could sit on Sam's lap. Precious or what?!

3. Jacob was crying and Sam went up to him and patted him on the back gently and said "It's alright Jacob, don't cry".... bless! 


4. While driving to the shops yesterday, I looked in the back to see my boys holding hands :)

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I took this picture last night as I was updating my blog.... it's much nicer looking over into the kitchen now with the lovely pink and blues shining back at me :) 

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For such a small piece of yard that is full of weeds... I can't believe how much joy it brings us. Today me and my boys sat in the grass/weeds, for ages. Just looking at all the little leaves and flowers, enjoying the sunshine, enjoying hugs and the peace and quiet together. It was so nice. 

Bali pedicure still going strong! 

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Out of the blue, I crave cherry tomatoes. Like, I'm just obsessed with them right now! I woke up and the first thing on my mind was buying some more cherry goodness to add to my lunch... 

They are seriously tasty right?!

I enjoyed every mouthful of this basil pesto (ohhh drool), cherry tomato, mushroom, goats cheese and basil leaves roll (you can never have too much basil..never), and it was doubly good because I toasted it...

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It was pretty warm today ... (winter? hello?)... so I made some ice-cream cones for the boys. I think they enjoyed them :)

This is all normal... I think Sam needs to get bigger headphones though, these are way too small. 

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Happy days! xxx

Day 244

I was supposed to come back yesterday to update my blog again.. but you are probably lucky I didn't. Yesterday.Was.Hard. Really really HARD. One of those days where being a parent is exhausting and you just want to hide away for some peace and quiet before you lose your mind.

I think I felt every emotion possible. Overwhelmed, impatient, upset, stressed, anxious, angry, lost, teary.. you get the picture. It wasn't a good day.

But let me back up a minute to fill you in on how my night ended... or as I like to think of it 'the night that saved my sanity'.

Background story is that Valerie's husband Sonny had wanted to organise a special treat for Val, to spoil her for all the hard work she does (what a guy huh?!). So he called me earlier in the week to say that he had booked Val in for a massage and then made a reservation at Chatters Restaurant and would I surprise her by being her dinner date? Oh Sonny didn't even need to ask, a night out with Val? I'm there! So Sonny told Val that morning to get be ready to go to a massage, then head to the restaurant where someone would be waiting for her. (Of course, the cheeky Val tried to get it out of me during the day while we were texting each other!)...

I know Sonny organised the treat for Val, but seriously, it was also a life saver for me, a huge treat and was something I desperately needed. Val and I ... I can't explain, it was what we both needed. A true, real, deep conversation, over a beautiful meal (ohhh my satay vegetables..too good!), Sonny couldn't have planned the whole thing any better! Thank you Sonny for not only being such a gorgeous husband to my wonderful friend, but for including me in the special surprise... it saved my sanity... truly!!!

Don't worry! I saved the cup!

Fast forward to today... after a great, productive chat with Val over dinner, I decided I needed to get on and make some changes around the house to help things run a little smoother. Especially now that Jacob is so active and getting into everything and me finding it really hard to keep on top of things. Bottom line - I can't handle clutter and mess, it makes my mind cluttered and messy and therefore I become miserable. I needed some order and quickly!

First thing I tackled was the shelves in the kitchen. To be honest I can't believe I let them get so crazy. Time to de-clutter!

We took a trip to K-Mart bright and early, and I picked up this 'Family' sign for $9. I chose the word Family, as I need the reminder for when things get the best of me, that my Family is what is most important.

I used some of the spray paint that I had left over from spraying the wedding Photo Frames...

The finished result! I bought the water bottles for $2 each, the splash of colour in the corner of the kitchen really brightens the place up.

Next issue to tackle - the boys play area. Before, all their toys were in baskets and open containers, which meant that often they'd come up and tip them out and move on. Leaving a huge mess every day and it was exhausting trying to keep on top of it. So I bought these containers (again from K-Mart, $19) and set the rules that the boys can play with the toys inside, but the drawers can't be taken out and moved around the house and once they have finished, they must put them away before they get the next lot of toys out. I had a little giggle to myself when I overheard Sam explaining the rules to Jacob, very seriously and making sure Jakey adhered to the rules!

Oh and the play pen.. let me explain that. It's simply to keep the other toys in one area, a place for quiet time (Sam loves it, he climbs in and lays on the pillows to look at his books), and the other reason it's there is when I need to vacuum and mop.. my little baby goes in there so I can actually GET IT DONE! I tested it out today, sanity saving.. that's all I'll say! Big thumbs up!

Thirdly, I love cushions....So I bought some green ones to add to the collection.

And lastly, outside. I had the alphabet map and a large container of toys out here before, and every day they would be all over the patio (it's not that big but still!), and it was just so cluttered and messy allll the time. So more de-cluttering! I packed away the mat and the toys, let's face it the boys have plenty of toys inside, they won't miss a few more (plus they DO have a whole wilderness to play in!). And left outside just for bikes etc. A lot easier to keep under control.

After all that, I needed this....

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Now finally, my lovely husband. He came home yesterday to a wife that was extremely highly strung, on edge, stressed out and about to snap. I decided today that he needed a treat to come home to, to let him know how much I appreciate him. So I made some Hommus, cut up some carrots and because I didn't have any crackers - I made a substitute. 

Rosemary & Parmesan Crackers


Too easy. I got a sheet of Shortcrust pastry and pasted it with milk.

Sprinkled on some dried Rosemary...

and grated on some Parmesan..

 Into the oven at 200, for as long as it takes to slightly brown....

It's so yummy that you don't even need dip to go with it, it's just as beautiful on it's own.

Now I'm off to have my 'Friday night unwind' glass of wine and cook some home made pizzas for dinner.

Happy weekend all! xxxx