Day 316 Sunday's Stuff

Sunday morning treat... having breakfast on the rug while watching cartoons. 

I made the most of some quiet time this morning, while Jacob was napping and Sam and Lewy were at soccer. Those moments are precious.

Proverbs 3:5-6 
-----------------

Sunday's Stuff!

I want to eat this - California Sandwich: Avocado, tomato, sprouts and pepper with chive spread.

Great idea - Hessian in the frame and then write on the glass with a dry erase marker.

Favourite Quote

Favourite Bracelets

Favourite Funny - :))

Cool Nails

Favourite Outfit - Sweet. One day when I grow up I will look this sophisticated :P

Favourite Photo - Dew on a Ladybug, brrrrr

Favourite Chair - I love everything about this.

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes - Drool!

Favourite Shoes - Oh love. Where to wear them.. hmmm, maybe out for dinner .....in New York? Izzie - perfect right?!

One More Outfit - love. 

The End. 

-----------------

Day Two update. A success! Feeling great, eating well and no alcohol - check!. Go me! Hopefully all my daily updates are just like this one :) 

Happy Sunday! x

Day 315 Grab a cuppa, this is a long one!

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post about a wonderful little comment made by our local bottle shop guy (is it sad, that the bottle shop guy knows Lewy and I well.. and that he even remembers what we drink? Ummm I don't know if it's good customer service or if Lewy and I drink too much?! Let's stick with good customer service...okay :P).

Hillarys

Anyway, moving on, I visited the bottle shop yesterday to buy us a little celebratory drink after our hard work. I apologised to the shop guy for my awful appearance and almost fell over myself trying to justify why I looked so bad and told him all about the work we are doing around the house etc. Poor guy, I'm sure he was not at all interested in our garden. Guess what he said?! "You could wear a Hessian bag and still look good". Complete lies but boy did it make my day! The End.

------------

Read this Funny Post by The Bloggess Read it and then come back to my blog (please come back, I know I'm not as funny as this lady, but I do Giveaways so does that entice you to stay faithful? :P)


First of all, it's a good way to start the day. I laughed so hard and I'm totally putting her book on pre-order! Secondly, I all of a sudden realised why I'll never make it as a proper blogger. My life is just not that interesting! I don't have funny little stories or crazy cool things that happen to me on a daily basis.

My days usually consist of cleaning (there is nothing funny about that), looking after my boys (sometimes funny, mostly hard work, lots of love, cuddles, cleaning up after them and did I mention the hard work?), work (it would probably bore the pants off you guys if I started blogging about this), cooking (I already DO bore the pants off you guys by blogging about this), more cleaning (still not funny).... and that's seriously about it. Certainly no trips away to meet with my Publishers. *sigh*

------------

Okay guys, it's time to get serious. Really serious. I'm in need of a complete over-haul. Enough is enough and I'm focussed, motivated and ready to make some changes! Go me!

1. I need to lose weight. Not a crazy amount, my natural figure is curvy and I'm proud of them curves! Luckily my husband also prefers the curves, so phew! I just to need to lose some kilos because at the moment my natural curves are covered in padding. :P

2. In line with the above, I've decided to go 30 DAYS, yes you read that right. 30 DAYS without alcohol. I don't need those extra calories while I'm trying to do an over-haul. So alcohol, you're out of bounds for now.

I'm sharing this information because then it means I actually have to see these goals through otherwise I'll have to come back on here and admit if I stuffed up! And that would just be embarrassing.

Day One begins (oh yes, you'll be getting a day by day update.. I'm sorry :( ) - so far so good. Although it is only 7.57am so I haven't really had time to mess anything up yet. ha! ;))

Time to save this post and come back later when I've actually done something with my day.

------------

I'm back and yes, I succeeded in doing something pretty darn good today.

I had a Card Party to go to this afternoon at a friends place near the beach. Card Party... I'd never heard of it either before today, but it was pretty good! Managed to pick up some Christmas Cards and other goodies for a great price.

So seen as we were headed out towards the beach, I decided to take Sam with me for a visit before we went to the party. Luckily there was a break in the weather and we got to have some quality mother/son time.

There was one slight hitch. I must have temporarily forgotten who my son was when I decided to go to the beach before  the party. One by one, his clothing came off and he ended up butt naked rolling around in the sand. That's my boy!

After shaking off as much sand as possible, we headed to the party. Sam loved it, he played with the little girls and the kids spent most of the time outside by the food table in between playing their little hearts out.

The Card Display

Everyone checking out the catalogue

There were laughs all around when Sam walked inside like this... I think those shoes match his eyes :P

The beautiful spread. You guys will be so proud, my new middle name is 'self control' :D

Lewy and Jacob had a lovely afternoon together, apparently Jacob made Lewy read the same book about 10 times. Hehe it's Jakey's new thing, he loves being read too and will bring piles of books to you to read. And you must comply - otherwise he'll cry. :P

---------------


Time for Day One update. I did good! Yay me! And considering it is only Day One, it's not surprising that the no alcohol rule was easy to follow :) I'm sitting here sipping a nice cup of tea, feeling rather refreshed after my healthy day.

I loved today so much :)

How was your day?

Day 314 Junk

Feeling down about your appearance? Worried that you are letting yourself go? Thinking you need to make more of an effort to look nice?

Well my friends, fear no more. I am here to lift your spirits! Introducing.... myself.

Feel free to use these images to boost your self esteem, I am happy to help. I'm generous like that :P

Seriously, when you start looking like this and actually going out in public like I did today... THEN you can start to worry about your appearance. Until then, you guys got nothin' to worry about. :D

Don't worry, I'm rolling with it today, we spent the day working hard. Lifting junk, moving junk, transporting junk to the .... junk yard :P Ohhhh we are living the life! So how do YOU spend your day when your kids are at daycare? What? Not going to the tip? Well, you don't know what you're missing.


Tracey, stop talking. :P


---------------

This rain we are getting? Loving it. Although it did aide in the fast growth of the weeds in the front garden again.

"Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us that needs to be ignited with sparks" Johann Gottfried Von Herder

---------------

This is my favourite part...... time to announce the Giveaway winner!

Drum roll please

Congratulations Val!!! You have a nice Pamper Pack coming your way (or to be more accurate, waiting for you here when you come over for our PJ Party Catch Up next week!)

---------------

Friday night = BBQ dinner, chilling out, talking about our accomplishments throughout the week and unwinding after our productive work.

Happy Friday x

Day 313 It's Raining, It's Pouring

Peek-a-boo

Hello rain and thunderstorm. After yesterday's heat, it was a very welcome change. I am looking forward to posting pictures of the finished back yard... but that will have to wait until, well, until it's actually finished. The rain meant we had to cease work for now.  I think after yesterday's effort though, Lewy and I were both secretly pleased we were rained out :P

We did however make time to run around with the boys in the rain...every drop of rain was refreshing. I think it should be law that when it rains, you have to do what Jacob is doing... and try to catch as much of it in your mouth as you can, while you have a blissful look on your face due to the extreme excitement of it all. Precious moment caught on camera.

Don't worry, barefoot baby only lasted 2 seconds before he was made to put shoes on :) 

So, as I mentioned previously about feeling the desire to do something positive with my experience with Depression... I've been spending some time in the evenings sitting down with the good ol' fashioned note pad and pen, jotting down ideas. To my surprise, an idea formed quite easily and I can feel a flame of excitement in the pit of my belly :) I won't go into too much detail at the moment, in case it all falls through. But the main thing is.. the ball is rolling. Stay tuned!

Looking for a quick tasty dish to make for dinner? Well, well... you have come to the right place! Vegetarian Chilli Bean Nachos! Sounds good right?! Yes. Yes it does. 


I didn't take any photos of it, because frankly it is so easy to make and it basically just looks like a pile of 'taste on a plate' that I figured I didn't need to do a step-by-step :P Perfect for a lazy Friday night dinner or Saturday night... or Sunday night.... or.....you get it. 


The recipe is here - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17373/vegetarian+chilli+beans The only changes I made was to serve it on corn chips, top it with cheese and microwave it for about 30 seconds just to melt the cheese... done. DIG IN. Drooooool. Next time I make it, I'll add some diced avocado on top.

I got to spend some quality time with the camera today ... obviously :P.... I honestly think I am at my happiest when I have the camera in my hands. Worries, anxieties, stress, everything falls away when I am walking around looking for that 'perfect shot'. Do you think someone would pay me to walk around the bush taking photos that only you guys will see on my blog? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? :-/

This photo was taken on Sam's behalf. "Mummy, look! Take a picture of the birdie walking on the road!". Done, my dear boy :)

Do you ever wish that you could just be completely open with others and share your struggles/secrets/fears/down falls? How freeing would that be? To say "this is me, the good, the bad, the ugly". Well, I know I wish that. So, why don't we do it more often?

I know why. Because we are scared of being judged, scared that people will look down on us and think about us differently. That's sad isn't it? I know for me, if I am ever privileged enough to be let in on someone's struggle/secret, my first thought is "thank goodness, you are human, just like me".

But with that said, I'm also guilty of withholding lots of personal struggles, fears and down falls. Self-preservation seems to be human nature doesn't it?

I don't have a neat way to end this... it's just something that's been on my mind lately. If you share yours, I'll share mine.. deal? :)

Time for me to sign off, we have a big working day ahead of us tomorrow. Night all and sweet dreams x

Day 312 Hardcore

Remember when I spent hours weeding awhile ago? Well compared to today's outdoor activities, weeding was as easy as chillin' outside working on my tan.

We spent most of this hot day sweating and labouring under the burning sun (does anyone feel sorry for me yet? :P)  Seriously though, there is nothing like rolling up your sleeves and getting into some hard work. Lewy and I set our sights on our back yard today. If you are wondering what has happened to our magical wilderness... it has gone. Not the magic, just the wilderness. :)

Replacing it is nicely mowed lawn/weeds/dirt in which Lewy is making his mission to bring back to a beautiful green patch of grass for the boys to play on. With this in mind, we spent the day building a brick ledge around the grassed area.

We used a pile of spare patio pavers that were around the side of the house (from when the house was originally built), and the paint that we used to re-paint the patio... painting was my job, and Lewy dug the trench to put them in. Work got hardcore at one point, when we had to cement in the pavers in one section. ;))

While Lewy and I worked, this is what the boys did. Whose job would you prefer?!

-------------

Because I'm in a good mood, I'm going to do another Giveaway!

The winner will get a cool little Pamper Pack, made up of  ... actually I won't tell you what it's made up of, I'll surprise you! Let me just say, it will include some necessary goodies for a quiet time out when you need it the most :)

So to be in the running, just make a comment on this post. Easy right?! I'll announce the winner in a couple of days.  Good luck!

Night all x

Day 311 Melbourne Cup

You know what they say... you gotta be in it to win it. And thanks to Lewy's keen.. umm....guessing skills, he won us $200! Yee Ha!

We celebrated over lunch in Guildford and made the most of a glorious sunny (hot) afternoon.

----------

Christmas 


I headed out this morning for a spot of shopping, (haha spot of shopping...sounds so 'lady of leisure' doesn't it?!) well it was actually more of a race around to buy the huge list of things I had to get. Amongst other things, I bought one final Christmas present, so I am now officially organised for Christmas. Presents are not only bought, but they are wrapped, labelled and stored away safely for the big day.

The next thing on the list of 'To Do Before Christmas' is to organise a lunch menu. This year promises to be a wonderful relaxing day, spent at home with family, where the boys can stay and play with their new presents, and us parents and family can sit back with a drink and enjoy the Christmas celebrations. I can't wait. We are planning a traditional Aussie Christmas which involves a Seafood BBQ.

Do you remember this post? The very 2nd post after starting the 365 day challenge...I am so excited to finally brush the dust of all the goodies I bought on Sale last year and decorate the house. Christmas Spirit? I've got it bad this year! :D

----------

What was the best thing about your day? 
Mine was... winning (obviously), and lunch with Lewy. :P

Happy Tuesday xxx