Thursday, February 28

Conversations over coffee - Hairdressers

So far my whole no linky party resolve is not working out quite as planned. Though I did manage to refrain from linking up my lovely flower photos. Which by the way I noticed that so far practically no one has bothered to look at. Which is kind of ok I guess cause it shows my readers are here to do just that, read.

Anyway, the very elegant always Josefa opened her second ever link up today. 

Conversations over coffee - always josefa

It is a once a month special occasion, though it's open for few days if you want to join in.

Sadly I missed out on last month's conversation about a first love. Some time ago I wrote about a life of lost love. Even though it was twelve months ago now, it wasn't some I wanted to revisit just yet. Especially since I said it so beautifully (evenifIdosaysomyself) the first time. Plus it didn't seem right to just link up a twelve month old post.

Only it wasn't that long ago that I gave great thanks to my newly found and incredibly awesome hairdresser. Sadly I haven't had a chance to get back to her, though hopefully that will all change before the big trip to Sydney in a few weeks. Luckily though I do have a story or two to tell about some other hair experiences I have been through over the years.

So grab a cuppa and read on.
It's alright, I'll wait for you while your cuppa brews
As a child I wasn't allowed to get my hair cut very often. My parents were some what traditional with the whole girls should have long hair thing. Well that and the fact my hair took so long to grow in the first place, that there was just no way my parents, particularly my mother, could bring themselves to get my hair cut till I had lots and lots of it.

My hair was thin and fine and wispy blonde for nearly four whole years. At which point it darkened, thickened out and became this beautiful multifaceted shimmering and glossy brown that my mother ensured no one called mousey.

Because apparently mousey brown hair is the worst, or at least one of the worst, things that can be bestowed upon a young girl.

By the time I reached high school I was desperate to make changes to myself and my hair seemed the most logical place to start. Naturally my mother thought otherwise. Being the good dutiful daughter I was, I accepted her denial of what I thought was my right to cut and colour my own hair.

Well intermittently at least.

Every now and then I would take up the cause again and resume my pestering regarding a desire to change my appearance. Eventually it all paid off.

One day when I was expecting my mother to be plaiting my pony tail, she just snipped it off. Yep you read right. One day my mother just picked up a pair of scissors and chop!

Gone were my locks.

I was beside myself if excitement and joy. I could not believe my dream of a new looking me had finally come true. For the next few days I was fixated to the mirror and admiring my new do. Suddenly my mother had elevated herself to coolness and in doing so took me with her.

Sadly it was short lived and before long I wanted even more change. I wanted to brighten up my mousey brown (that I apparently didn't have). I must have been about 14 when I had convinced my over protective mother that I could catch the bus to the local library with my friend from school. It took a bit of convince but I assured her all was above board and there was no need to question my trustworthiness.

Sure my study buddy was the least studious person I knew, but she was certain there must be a few good looking nerds doing their homework at the public library. We both felt our school was lacking in good looking boys.

As it turned out there weren't any hunk a chunka studs for our little innocent year nine minds to look at. So we decided to take apart our red textas and see if we could colour our hair. Ingenious huh?

It worked. Sort of. At least till we had a shower.

To say my mother was not impressed would be an understatement. I was never allowed to study at the public library after school again. And as for my friend, well needless to say I was advised not to spend any more time with her.

Pretty huh?
Not wanting to be a fun stealer like my mother,
this is the henna Miss 11 put in her hair recently.
I find it interesting that she now wishes she
didn't. But that is all a post for another day.
Sadly for her it seems to be staying for a while
longer than what I was expecting. Whoops!
It wasn't long after this though that my mum buckled and got me a henna rinse which put the most loveliest red shine through my hair. Making me the most happiest girl in year nine. Well until I got caught playing in the rain and the dye leaked out all over my lovely new white bodysuit. (Ssshh it was the early 90's ok, body suits were what all the cool kids wore)
From here my hair just got shorter and shorter. Each time my mum pleading me that it be the last for a few years. By the time I was 19 I had no attachment to my hair at all. I would hack at it myself on a regular (read almost weekly) basis. If I went out and I couldn't get it to sit how I wanted I would just cut the offending hair. I still liked to keep up the 'natural' henna red though.

I was at a time in my life when I had little to do with other females. I loosely hung with a few girls from work (the local and only surf shop) but most of my free time was with my boyfriend and his mates. Ironically he had the most beautiful long hair I have ever seen. His buddies were all shavers though and one night while they were passing the clippers round I somehow found myself in the hair removal chair.

Best thing I ever did.

I think every woman at some point should shave her head. There is something to be said about the whole shake and dry kind of style that comes with only a few millimetres of hair. After this though I decided to let it all grow for a while and my next hair cut was not for years.

Having said that though I think it is fair to say that my hair has probably spent more time short than long though for the most part I have taken care of it myself. Which is silly because the hairdresser naturally does a much better job.

Me in 2004 with a lovely short do.
Me not looking all that different in 2012

But in between all of that in 2008,
I would be lying if I said this was the *only* picture of me with long
hair. It is the only pic of me with long her and a celebrity though.
I hung out with Chas and had really long hair!

What type of hair affair do you have?

Make sure you head over to always Josefa and share in some of the other hairdresser conversations
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Tuesday, February 26

Buttons, buttons, buttons!

Not these buttons.
You will be forgiven for thinking that I have gone button crazy. I know there has been lots of button talk going on around here lately but I just had to share my new found knowledge.

Last week for my most favourite linky ever I shared just how easy it was to modify and add social media buttons to your Blogger blog. What I should have mentioned though was that there is actually very little difference when doing it for a Wordpress or any other type of blog. But never mind, now you know.
A Parenting Life
This type of button

While I was busy making lots of pretty new stuff for myself, I also whipped up a blog button for the lovely Kirsty over at My Home Truths. Though really all I did was organise some code for an already existing image. And when I say organise some code I just copied and pasted a few different links into this rather awesome site that did all the work for me.

Anyway as you can imagine Kirsty was just a little pleased with her spiffy new button and code to share with all her link buddies that she asked me if I would ever do a post about making your own blog button.

Well hold the phones lovely, all your dreams are coming true and here is how to make your own blog button according to me. For the second time. When I first discovered this site way back in December 2011 I posted on how clever I was and how clever you could be.

I did think about just directing Kirsty to it, only really there is not much detail and I neglected the whole where to save your image which is kinda important. Plus, nothing like a free post idea is there?

So first things first.

Your image that you will use for you button needs to be saved somewhere online so it can have a URL. This is very similar to what is needed for when we created the social media buttons I like to use somewhere like Photobucket. Actually I don't just like somewhere like Photobucket, I actually use it, but I am sure there are plenty of other similar ones if you would rather, tumblr, flicker etc.

Anyways, if you are using Photobucket you will see that there are a whole range of URL options to choose from.

Yep that's the URL stuff I was talking about.
Once you have your image URL head to here which is the "Grab My Button" code generator site. 

It looks a bit like this

It really is as easy as filling in the blanks. Just copy and paste.
Now I have never really bothered changing the container's border or background colour. If you know what colour you want and have the right combination of letters and numbers for it, enter it in the boxes.

What I do really recommend doing though is setting the width of the code container. I like it at about 125 pixels. Most buttons these days are 150x150 pixels so setting the code container box to 125 keeps it all neat and tidy. Plus it makes it easier to fit into your side bar.

I also like to have my button links open in a new window, but that is just a personal preference and I don't even know why that is. You can decide for yourself whether you tick the yes or no button on that one. Once you have entered all the details click on the preview button and a new little box will pop up with code for you to copy and paste into where ever you want.

The code will look a little like this

<div align="center" style="padding: 5px;"><img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z380/lourhi/I-Must-Confess-Button-150x150_zpsa33b2bb0.jpg"  title="My Home Truths" alt="My Home Truths" /></div><textarea style="background:#f0f0f0;border:solid 1px #cccccc; color: #777777; font-size:100%; height: 50px; margin:auto; text-align: left; padding: 2px 0 2px 5px; display: block;  width: 125px;">&lt;div align="center">&lt;a href="http://myhometruths.com" title="My Home Truths" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z380/lourhi/I-Must-Confess-Button-150x150_zpsa33b2bb0.jpg" alt="My Home Truths" style="border:none;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div></textarea>

Which then magically turns to this when entered in a HTML box
My Home Truths


Then all anyone needs to do is copy and past the code below the button and voila, your button is now on their blog! Awesome huh?

Sharing this handy button information with all those who blog on Tuesday with EssentiallyJess and you should share it on Twitter, Google or Facebook (or all three) There are buttons below.
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Monday, February 25

I must confess I can't do this any more, well at least for a bit


My Home TruthsToday's post was supposed to be joining in with the lovely My Home Truths for the weekly confessional that Kirsty hosts. I was going to confess how for the next few weeks I would be neglecting my regular linky posts.

Sigh.

With the highly anticipated #DPCON13 literally just around the corner, there is much to be done around home to ease the burden of Mummy Guilt that I will inevitably hurl upon myself for leaving the children to the perils of their father for nearly one whole week.

As such my blogging time is going to be slightly impeded for pretty much the next month.

Double sigh.

Which means that even if by some minor miracle I get posts out I seriously doubt my ability to go around commenting as much as I think is appropriate when joining linky parties.

Triple sigh.

In between all of that it is my birthday soon. Actually it is just under a month to go but I am super super excited about it this year. Well at least for the moment I am. No doubt there will be some point in the coming weeks that will see me crumble under the realisation that at thirty five I have very little to show for myself other than an awesome husband and three awesome offspring.

Which of course is awesome but not exactly the nobel prize for literature that I was expecting to have by now. Mind you I was also expecting to skip a few years of high school and university. Not to mention a call from the lovely folk at Mensa asking if I wanted join their special little club. Oh the delusional mind of a early teens.

Where was I? Oh that's right, confessing I am holding off on joining in on all my favourite linkies over the next few weeks.
Original image from here and then
adapted by me
I know hard to believe but I don't think I have any choice. Plus I am kind of hoping that I have enough regular readers I won't notice any difference.

Ok so maybe the delusional thing was slightly longer lasting than early teens, whatever

Mind you since I do kind of have a confessional post here I guess it wouldn't hurt to just link up...

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Sunday, February 24

It's all about choice.

The week just gone feels like it has been a long one.

I don't like it when they feel this way.

I don't want life to be a chore. Where each day drags from one to the next, filled with nothing more than monotony and boredom. Where every little thing seems to just drain your already depleted self, leaving you wishing that you could stay in bed. Indefinitely. Perhaps even longer.

That is not the life I want.

That is not the life that I want to show to my beautiful children, with whom I am bestowed the privilege  of informing, educating, moulding and creating if you will.

That is not the life I choose. I refuse to.

The other day I wrote a post. Just a quick one, I didn't have much time and turning on the computer at that time of the morning really was a wrong thing to do, but the atmosphere for writing was just too great to dismiss.

It felt wonderful putting writing above all else for a change.

Something I need to do more often
At the end of the post I wrote that we ALWAYS have a choice. Always. It is something that I need to constantly remind myself of at the moment. There have been too many days of late where I have not remembered that my attitude to my situation is my choice. When the days are dragging on for much longer than they should I start to feel as if my choices have been removed from me and I shouldn't. Because regardless of all else, how I handle a situation will always be my choice. Always.

There are some big things going on in my little neck of the world. Some of it so big that my pretty little head can not even begin to compute it all. I don't even know how to go about tackling it all in a blog post either. 

All in good time I guess. For now I will stick to thinking about the choices before me.

One of the choices I have made lately is to have a good hard look at me and all that I do and am. In four short weeks I will turn thirty five. Which I am kind of excited about. I also have a few reservations about it all as well.

Like, have I really made the most of my life and the opportunities presented in it? Am I being the best role model for my children that I can be? Or more to the point am I being the best me I can be? All that kind of deep philosophical stuff that seems to frequently coincide with birthday self reflections.

At the end of the day, if I am truly honest with myself, I could choose to get more out of life.

From here on in I want to choose to put more into life.

I choose to make the most of each and every day.
I choose to stop the waste and dreariness that seems to infiltrate my being much more than I care to admit.
I choose to make a change and take charge of my life.

The choice to tackle every day and get the most out of it, is mine and mine alone.

I choose to greet the day with all that I have and not let it wear me down. Well at least not as easily.

What big choices do you need to make?

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Saturday, February 23

It's my birthday

Image from here
Well, this time next month it will be.

You could say I am just a little excited about it all.
Image from here
Actually in many ways I am super excited about it because this year I will get to be with my sister on our special day and it will also mean that I have survived the fun and excitement of #DPCON13.

Plus who seriously doesn't love their birthday?


The fact that thirty five is a seven birthday just adds to the excitement of it all. All this excessive and over use of the word excited it testament to just how excited I am.

Seven birthday's are my favourite because life moves in seven year cycles. Or at least I like to think it does. I am more than ready to be entering a new cycle. My last two cycles have been very birthy/child creating focused. I can feel that is now at an end and a new cycle is ready and waiting to begin.

Of course this new cycle is still strongly child focused, just not so much in the actual creating of them in the first instance. This new cycle I am preparing to embark on is more of a growing, developing and shaping what I have already created. I have a feeling that it is also about some growing and developing for me as well.

In preparation for all of this of course the house needs a complete overhaul. Only compounded by the new (to us) furniture that we came across today. Let's just say that my new computer area is looking very flash indeed. Mind you sorting through all the mess created as we made room for our new acquisitions is not all that appealing, but I guess you can't win them all.

So on that note I guess I best get to it.

Do you like to spring clean before your birthday?
Have you heard of the seven year life cycle stuff or is it just something in my head?

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Thursday, February 21

Early morning me time

Photo by lundeholm
It's 6:51 am. Everyone is still sleeping and by everyone I really mean the three children. Mr Awesome has left for work and I am left alone. All alone. Just me, myself and I and of course the thousands of thoughts that are floating aimlessly round my pretty little head waiting patiently to evolve into something greater. Aren't we all though? Just waiting to evolve into something greater?

While I know that turning on the computer this early in the morning rarely leads to good things I just couldn't resist. Time alone like this, especially in the morning is just too rare an opportunity to let slip by. Besides I have promised myself that as soon as one wakes I will stop. Wonderful test for my self discipline right there. On top of that I sorted the dishes and tidied the kitchen before I sat down. Go me right? Doing the chores that a housewife is supposed to do.

Deep sigh.

Truth be told right now I am using every ounce of everything I have to stop myself from crawling back into bed myself. My glands feel like they are swollen and my neck is sore. The constant dripping from my nose is driving me to distraction though it does provide relief from the razor blades that scrape down the inside of my throat each time I swallow.

Ok so maybe all of that was a slight exaggeration. Only slight though I do feel a bit crapola and if it weren't for the responsibilities of motherhood going back to bed would certainly be all I would accomplish today. Well that and this awesome post.

Thankfully it is Thursday. Once we get through today there is only one more sleep till the weekend. Two days of whatever we want before starting all over again. I despise it when I am wishing the days away but at the moment some days are just dragging on forever I feel I have no choice but to wish them away. Which of course is where I am wrong.

We ALWAYS have a choice. Always.

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Wednesday, February 20

Thankful for blog giveaways

Honestly it feels like forever since I have taken the time to sit down and be thankful. The reason behind my lack of thanks fails me and I have none to offer. Just one of those I am too busy to get to it things I think. Which is a shame because really we should never be to busy to be thankful for what we have.

At least I am here now I guess.

Today I come with great thanks to all the other bloggers who host awesome give aways. Particularly ones I have been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of the giveaway.

Recently I have had these little babies turn up at my door step

Thanks to Rachel over at Redcliff Style

Thanks to Leanne at Deep Fried Fruit

Not so recently but not that long ago either, the girls delighted in reading this when it arrived

Thanks to Tracey over at Bliss Amongst Chaos

And while it hasn't turned up at my door yet (due to me only just deciding what word I wanted and ordering in the last few days) I can't wait to see what this will look like when it arrives

Thanks to Jess at EssentiallyJess

I am also a bit excited at the thought of being able to try some restickable tabs when they arrive, thanks to the lovely Annaleis at Teapots and Tractors

Of course I was also very thankful to be able to offer my own giveaway recently. Part of the giveaway for Personal-Planners Australia was that I received a planner as well. It arrived in the week. It is all kinds of awesome. Waiting until the start of March to use it though is more than slightly frustrating.

Sigh. All in good time they say.

Have you ever had much luck with giveaways?
What's the best thing you have given away or 
better still the best thing you've won?

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Tuesday, February 19

How to add social media buttons to your Blogger blog

As a regular reader you may have noticed a few little changes of late. If you are a newbie you are probably just thinking what a pretty little blog I have here. And your right. I do, thanks for noticing.

For the most part I made the changes myself and feel more than just a little pleased with myself so please excuse me while I skite around giddily tooting my own horn for a little while.

Mind you before I go any further I could not have done any of it without the help, guidance and support from the ever lovely Essentially Jess. She really and truly is all kinds of awesome in all kinds of ways.

Anyway while I was being all creative and making buttons, banners and whatever else was needed to create my new look it dawned on me that perhaps not everyone knew just how easy it was to do some of these things.

Like make social media buttons.

See these groovy little guys?
 photo facebook_zps8666c0a1.png photo twitter_zpsc21eba1f.png photo instagram_zpsda54dd6b.png
Well I made them. Impressive huh?

Well actually I simply changed the colour of some files I got from Jess who got them from Carrie, and then I added a bit of code that I copied from elsewhere, but that is still somewhat impressive I think. Impressive enough for me to want to share with you just how easy it would be for you to make you own social media buttons to suit your own colour scheme. Then you too could be giddy with the excitement of your own creativity.

First up, you need to head to Carrie Loves where you can find a whole heap of already made icons in a range of colours. Thirty in fact. You might even get lucky and find they have one that already matches your colour scheme perfectly.

African Violet came close for me, but was just a few shades off what I was already using elsewhere. So I went to pixlr.com, which is what I use for all my image creation because I just can't justify buying photoshop no matter how much I think I will love it, and using the colour dropper tool, selected the right colour from another image I had opened and with the paint bucket filled the right colour in over the existing colour. Easy peasy!

Possibly not how a skilled graphic designer would do it be doing it but I am not a skilled graphic designer. I am a stay at home mummy blogger that likes to think she can make a pretty picture every now and then.

From here I saved each little image over at Photobucket You can use any similar online storage site though so long as you know where to find the image links. What I love about this one though is that it gives you all the coding options an illiterate coder like me could possibly need.


All you need to do is click on the HTML code and go off to Blogger and add a new HTML gadget in the layout section of your dashboard.


Once you have added the code, which will look a little something like this

<a href="http://s1186.beta.photobucket.com/user/lourhi/media/facebook_zps8666c0a1.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z380/lourhi/facebook_zps8666c0a1.png" border="0" alt=" photo facebook_zps8666c0a1.png"/></a>

things get temporarily tricky. But not too tricky so don't give up. Open a new tab or window depending on your personal preference and go to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever social media page you are making the button from. Copy the address and return to the window that you just placed the HTML code for your icon image.

Highlight the same piece of code as I have below and replace with the address of your profile page to the social media platform you are making the button for.

<a href="http://s1186.beta.photobucket.com/user/lourhi/media/facebook_zps8666c0a1.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z380/lourhi/facebook_zps8666c0a1.png" border="0" alt=" photo facebook_zps8666c0a1.png"/></a>

For example if I was making it for my Facebook page I would insert 

https://www.facebook.com/AParentingLife

Making the code look as follows

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AParentingLife" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z380/lourhi/facebook_zps8666c0a1.png" border="0" alt=" photo facebook_zps8666c0a1.png"/></a>

and giving you a finished button like this
 photo facebook_zps8666c0a1.png

Repeat the process for each social media platforms that you require a button for. When finished save the details and Bob's your uncle! You are now the proud owner of groovy social media buttons on your blog.

Alternatively if you are in need of some social media buttons but are not overly fussed about colour you could always just get some from somewhere like Nifty Buttons which is super super easy to use and creates all the coding for you, once of course you supply the links to the profile pages.

With any luck this all made a bit of sense to you. Next week I will share how simple it is to make a button for your blog. In the mean time, today is Tuesday and I have blogged so I am join in all the IBOT (I Blog On Tuesdays) fun here and you should too!

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Monday, February 18

I must confess that sometimes I speak before I think

I must confess with My Home TruthsHello and welcome to another confessional.

Really the first confession for today should be that it has been way to long since I last joined in with Kirsty's rather awesome linky. Luckily I know she loves me and totally understands.

If you have something you want to confess to, Monday's at My Home Truths is the place to be. Share your confessions and read what others are getting off their chests. Seriously the best way to start the working week.

The other night was the meet the greet at the new school for Miss Eleven. It was followed by a parents council meeting. I went. Of course.

How could I not? It is after all so important to be involved. Schools need parents and all that. Plus kids can't really come to council meetings so it is kinda like a bit of me time.

Only just between you and me I kinda wish I hadn't. 

Actually more to the point I wish I had of stuck to my resolve to remain silent. As I wish I could think before I actually speak some times.

I should have known better really. As if I could ever really remain quiet. I mean sure for the first little bit while I am busy working everyone out and taking it all in I won't have much to say but there will come a time when that will change. It is inevitable that eventually someone will say something the will render me no longer able to remain silent. 

Source
Of course there will also be instances where in a bid to find my place in the room I rattle away at such speeds it is near on impossible to understand exactly what I am trying to babble on about.

The first of my faux pas for the night was much in this manner when I shared my shock at the concept of a council meeting without wine. I really meant it in a joking manner. I am not even a big wine drinker.

I had succumbed to peer pressure and was making drinking jokes in a bid to fit in. Made only worse when some wine was actually sourced and as I took my first sip I remembered saying to Jess that I would support her FebFast efforts by remaining dry as well. Go me. (Jess on the other hand is going great guns if you have a spare buck or two chuck it her way to raise funds for vital programs for those seriously affected by alcohol abuse)

So as if appearing as if I have a drinking problem wasn't enough I then went on to say how being on council meant a night out of the house for me. Made worse by the introduction of I know this sounds lame but...How someone didn't stand up and shout "dam straight that is lame you sad lonely housewife with a drinking problem" I do not know.

At about this point I decided to reinstate the no talking policy and looked longingly at the wine glass while waiting for the socially acceptable length of time between sips to hurry up and pass.

Have you ever wished you could stop your mouth 
from speaking words of stupidity in front of strangers?


Sunday, February 17

Things I Know About Not Making Sense


Things I KnowThe first thing that I know this week is that life is just crazy and sometimes makes no sense whatsoever. Like none. Not even an iota. Hence why it is well past stupid o'clock on Saturday night and I am yet to go to bed, and this post which was started hours and hours ago is still waiting to be finished and published.

The next thing I know is actually more of an I don't know and by that I mean, I don't know how it suddenly got to Saturday early hours of Sunday morning, and I have barely managed to write, at all. Which I know doesn't sound much in the scheme of things but when writing is one of the few things that makes the world stop and make a little more sense to you, it is something you should try and do as often as possible. Like every day.

I know that already having a post written and scheduled is a pretty cool feeling. As is creating a funky new signature for blog posts. Just wait till you get to the end and check it out. Though I have just thought of a little change here and there.

*rushes off to make said changes*

I know that the little changes here and there that I just mentioned, turned out to be a major blog overhaul. Again, yes I know.

Truth be told I never really thought the new header (which is now the old header) was ever quite right.

I know that the new header, which will be released in the next week I think, is going to be awesome. Really seriously awesome. Seriously.

How do I know that with such certainty I hear you ask?

Because someone incredibly awesome helped me. I had mentioned to her earlier in the week how I wanted something different but didn't know what and she just went and made me a few suggestions. Told you she was awesome. I know I am blessed to have crossed paths with her.

I know this whole writers block think I have been through lately has really done my head in. Which possibly explains why I am in danger of seeing the sun rise if I don't go to bed. I am trying to make up for all the computer time I have missed out on of late in one foul swoop.

I know that I really wish I had of gotten around to organising my whole 35 by 35 thing post. Yesterday (Saturday) was 35 days till my 35th birthday. Which I am pretty excited about. Multiples of seven birthdays always get me excited. To me it signifies the changing cycles of life. Starting a new cycle in life is bound to be exciting.

I know that thinking of an awesome post idea involving 35 days of gifts for my readers to tie in with my 35th birthday, really would have been better to have thought about a month or so ago.

I know I am pleased to be joining in with the lovely Miss Cinders and all the things she knows



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Monday, February 11

Putting one foot in front of the other

Life of late has been what some might call a little full on. Some of course may still consider it a walk in the park. My own feelings involve struggles and battles, not necessarily won. Though it is also not nearly as terrible as it all sounds or as recent posts may lead you to believe.

To all those who have left such kind comments of late I am super thankful, it really does mean a lot to know you care. Please do not fret for me too much though. Some times I think my words make it all seem much worse than it really is. Which is not really quite what I want, but I am not sure what I can do.

My mantra at the moment is just keep going. The wheels are in motion, albeit slowly, they just need to keep on turning. And turn they will.

Towards the end of the holidays I bumped into a friend from school. And when I say friend I actually mean most awesome person ever who made my dream true last year. Naturally when she asked if I could help her out by looking after her four year old son I said yes. After all it is only a few hours each morning and more importantly I was honoured she trusted me with her offspring.

Having an extra little person around had been lovely. Miss Two, who I should probably start calling Miss NearlyThree, though I think Teapot would also be a bit cute but it doesn't really indicate age which I think at times is appropriate, now where was I...oh that's right. The youngest of my creations has really enjoyed having a play mate these last few weeks. Watching them play has made my heart swell on more than one occasion.

While the girls all play with each other on some level, their age gaps of four and five years are always evident. There is only a little over a year in age difference between our little guest and Teapot. They way they play together is beyond gorgeous. As is the thoughtfulness and care they show each other, especially their desire to share. She sure is going to miss him next week.

Part of  the fun of our new friend has been the preschool drop off. Miss NearlyThree would happily stay there with him if she were to be given the chance. The preschool teacher has mentioned on more than one occasion how ready she already seems. My heart breaks to think that this time next year we could be doing it all for real.

Here in the Territory children can start preschool, a part time play based familiarisation with the school environment, at the tender age of three and a half. This means that twelve months later, at the still tender age of four and half, children may start transition. Which is the first of year full time formal education.

Which I am now starting to wonder if it really is the best way to go about things. With Miss NotYetTwelve just starting her first year of Middle School (year seven) I can't help but wonder if she is really ready. Something I am sure most mothers have thought many a times. 

How has the first week or two back at school treated you? 
Have you wondered whether it was the right thing to do?

Joining in with Jess and the #IBOT crew




Instagram Show Case

Sadly I am still trying to fight my bloggingitis. For those new to the term bloggingitis it is where a blogger just can't seem to blog. It happens to the best of bloggers and is not by any means uncommon. Thankfully it is not life nor blog threatening and is quite recoverable. It is all just a matter of time. Which naturally I struggling to find at the moment.

I had thought that the return to school would bring with it a level of organization to my day. Instill some sort of order in amongst the chaos that most days are. It hasn't. Not that I am really surprised. I honestly can't ever recall a time in my life where chaos has not reigned supreme.

Sigh.

I started writing this post yesterday (Sunday) with the notion that in would join it in with Tina's Instagram linky party only clearly that never happened. I thought it would have been a nice easy way to ease myself back into it all. Children and their need for food and/or attention had other ideas.

I am nothing if not determined though and come hell or high water I will get this post out. However since it has been a weeks since I last shared my Instagram treasures there a few. Rahter than bore you with them all (and by that I mean go to the trouble of uploading them all to blogger), I have decided to just put in a few of my favourites

Little Miss Two was rather pleased with her climbing efforts. 
I was pleased she was able to climb down as easily as she went up.

Anyone want to sail away with me?

I went for a run and just had to stop and snap a few shots of these storm clouds passing by. 
Clouds like this are one of the reasons I love where I live as much as what I do.

This little cherub is my biggest kitchen helper. 
She is crazy for cracking eggs and mixing things. Bless. 
Can't wait till she can actually be more of a help though.

And that my friends is the best of my Instagram shots of late. Feel free to click on the side bar to go and see more or head to Instagram and find me at aparentinglife. Normally I would link this in and join the party but seeing as I am already a day late with posting and barely have time to check Facebook let alone read blogs I will give it a miss this week.