A New Beginning….

Just a quickie to let you all know that unfortunately I’ve decided to take a break from my blog. It’s such a great creative outlet for me but to be honest it really does take up a lot of time that I would otherwise use to do the things I really wanted to do and blog about in the first place. So it’s a matter of getting my priorities right, setting some goals, finding the courage, biting the bullet and making it happen. Then hopefully I’ll have time to blog about it all too.

In the meantime, thank you soooo much for all your lovely comments and encouragement. I’ve unearthed such a lovely little network of friends from all over and I truly hope to be able reconnect with you all again soon.

Love to you and catch you soon.

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.  Robert Allen

Just happy to be.

I heard someone say the other day “if you can remember your own name and get yourself to the toilet it’s a gooooood day”. Gosh we have so much to be grateful for that we take for granted every day.

Found this beautiful little movie from the makers of The Secret (which I hope you’ve all seen). It reminds us to live for today and to see the beauty in life and in ourselves….

 You know what, life’s tough. But let’s not loose sight of how incredibly wonderful it is too. And most importantly, do whatever (and I mean whatever) it takes to be 100% happy to be YOU because when you’re YOU you’re perfect!

And have a fabulous day.

ANZAC Day.

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day in Australia. Tomorrow we come together as a nation and, in our own Aussie way of course, honour and give thanks to the many, many  thousands of brave men and women who have fought and died for our coutry over the years. There is no other day that I feel so proud to be Australian.

Redgum’s song “I was only 19″ has almost become an ANZAC Day anthem. We always play it the night before to help remind us that getting our butts out of bed at 4.30am to attend the Dawn Service is a really, really, really small sacrifice compared to this….

LEST WE FORGET.

Deliciously Fresh, Simple & Free Latina eCookbook

Mmmmm, look what I just found…. check out this amazing free Latina Pasta eCookBook. Haven’t tried any recipes yet but I certainly intend to. You can download the entire book or flip through each beautifully presented page and just print out the recipe you want.

Oh, and when you’ve tried all the dishes in Volume 2 you can go back and start on Volume 1 which is still available at http://www.latinafresh.com.au/ecookbook.aspx

Mmmmmm.

Funky Photo Fun….

Found these amazing light drawings on one of my all time favourite blogs Made by Joel where you’ll find pages and pages of all sorts of wonderfully unique and creative stuff that Joel Henriques, an artist from Portland US, makes for his two adorable kids. He’s quite unique.

Joel makes it look so easy and once I worked out how to change the shutter speed on my camera (I set mine on 10 seconds) and found a torch that worked (a pencil torch is best) the rest was childs play and so much fun.

The boys started with their names. Of course I had to do some flowers and  Albie drew an excellent scooter. Not sure about Mitch’s portrait of me though….

 Although Joel’s images completely put mine to shame you really should check them out and of course you can get further instructions on how to create your own light drawings. Do take a look at his inspiring blog. He really is a very cool dad.

Here’s the link again…. http://madebyjoel.blogspot.com/2010/03/light-drawing.html

Lost Generation…. Changing the World in 1.44mins

I must admit I had to watch this clip a few times before I realised it’s true genius and felt the impact of it’s message. Then I watched it again. Wow….

There is hope !

A day in the life of…. me!

I’ve been sitting here contemplating what I could possibly have to blog about and feeling quite guilty at how little I’ve achieved of late when it occured to me that maybe I need to give myself a little more credit. I think often we try to fit so much more into life than just being a wife, mother and home maker that it’s easy to overlook our achievements when at the end of the day thats all we’ve got done. Take my last 36hours for instance….

Took my boys plus my 2 nephews to the skatepark for an hour while I sat in the car, listened to a podcast on health and nutrition and planned our meals for the next week.

Home in time to make lunch in 15mins flat (cheese, jatz and fruit) and be back at the movies where we all enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon in 3D.

Added a few brush strokes to my latest painting. This is a sneak peak as it’s not finished yet (watch this space).

Cooked some choc bickies with the help of my friends daughter Dana who I am minding for the day along with her 3 brothers who all helped eat them.

A little paper mache this morning too. It’s going to be a bowl (hopefully).

Won’t bore you with photos but I’ve also done 30min’s exercise, 2 loads of washing and half a basket of ironing, a grocery shop, roast lamb & veg for dinner last night, found and purchased this book on the web for my nephews birthday, refereed numerous fights, bandaged scraped knees, read 2 chapters of The BFG  and now posted this report with photographs, all I might add with a nagging headache because it’s that week.

Funny how all of a sudden the last few days have gone from being ‘nothing’ days to becoming quite a list of accomplishments and I feel much more enthusiastic about doing it all again tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that…..

Hope you appreciate aaaaaall that YOU do.

When you think about it the simple fact is most women are amazing aren’t they?  Bryce Courtey

50 Reasons to Take a Break Now

 Just found another little treasure trove of wonderful inspirational articles to help us retain our sanity and live life to the full, both of which I need all the help I can get with lately. I really do love the school holidays and can deal with the boys constant needs, wants and fights. What I struggle with is my own needs and wants and the constant battle in my mind trying to figure out exactly what it is I should be doing with my life. Too much time to think I think. Anyway….

I introduced you to Dani at Positively Present blog last New Year when I featured her 6 Stay the Same Resolutions. She is pure inspiration herself and has very kindly put together 50+ articles you should read now with titles like 5 Powerful Habits that Will Change Your Life, 15 Questions to Discover Your Personal Mission and 39 Ways to Boost Your Mood just to name a few.

I find these list compilations really helpful as you can quickly find an article that you think might help, print it out and throw it in your handbag so you’ve got something interesting and inspiring to read while you’re waiting for the kids to finish whatever. Or better still, why not just take a well earned break….

Here’s the link again…. http://www.positivelypresent.com/2010/02/link-love-50-articles-you-should-read-now.html

And incase I haven’t mentioned lately, thanks so much for supporting my blog. It really does mean alot when you take the time to let me know you’re there.  xx

Life is a jigsaw…. not to be solved but to enjoy each piece.  Anonymous

School Holiday Activites…. Fun for all the Family.

Hey everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. Ours was just lovely.

And now…. how to amuse the kids over the school hols.

My boys are so into their scooter’s at the moment which is a big help keeping them off the screens but if you’re stuck for ideas here’s a few links to help out….

http://www.byokids.com.au/content/view/695/57/

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/bored.htm

http://www.discoverfun.com/freeinfo/500fun/home.html

and Martha Stewart has a cool kids section here http://www.marthastewart.com/kids

 We’re off to buy a gold fish or two then I think we might try some paper-mache. Haven’t done that since I was at school. Might be fun (or just a big mess I’ll have to clean up). I’ll let you know.

Fun days ahead anyway!

A craft a day keeps the remote control away.  Cool Mum Picks

62 Reasons to Love Easter….

Know what? I reckon even if there was no chocolate I would still love Easter….

We’re all soooo ready for a break after a hectic first term, the weather is always that wonderful mixture of cool mornings, beautiful sunshine and perfect evenings although, should it rain all weekend (and it may well), that would be perfect too because then I get to hang in my winter pj’s and trackies with the rain on the roof. And those sleep-ins, four in a row…. bliss! Except Sunday of course, when I love the boys waking me with stories of paw tracks in the wet lawn so long as they don’t wipe their mouths on my doona. Fish on Friday, Hot Cross Buns on Saturday, catching up with family on Sunday and we’ve still got Monday.

To have all this and chocolate, doesn’t get much better does it? So I’ve decided to indulge even more and take a break from my blog over Easter. Should be back mid next week.

Something to leave you with though….

Martha Stewart, god love her, has gone all out this Easter with no less than 62 Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs all with tutorial. So we won’t be bored will we. Here’s my faves….

Happy Easter everyone xx