Wednesday, July 27

It's been one week


Since I posted on here (in my head I am typing this in tune to the Bare Naked Ladies song)  Now I am actually listening to the link and my train of thought for this post has completely been lost...

The school holidays are officially over.  Much to everyone's disappointment, including mine.  Though I will secretly admit that I am more glad for the return to school than I ever care to remember.  I guess the main reason for that is there is stuff I want to do that kids just seem to get in the way of.  Like cleaning, oh hang on I said stuff I want to do didn't I?

Seriously though as wonderful as the girls are it has been a little nice not to have to worry about what they have been up to the past couple of days.  

Of course though the return to school means an influx of stuff I need to get done.  It is less than six weeks to the birthday celebrations at the school.  There is so much still to be done there...(runs around screaming and pulling hair out before returning somewhat calmer)

Just quietly there are times when I wish I wasn't so involved with the school.  Actually there are times when I just wished I wasn't so involved with anything.  At all.  I just want to be removed from it all and live here forever


Or at least somewhere like it.


Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Wordless Wednesday


Playing along over here


Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Thursday, July 21

Wordless Wednesday

Yes yes I know that it is not Wednesday here any more but you can't win them all.


This is a two for one kind of post.  Playing along here and here.

Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!
Thanks for stopping by
Please click the box and vote for me
One click that's all it takes

Monday, July 18

Sleep, per chance to dream

I should have been in bed hours ago but sometimes getting the energy up to go just isn't there.  I understand the importance of sleep and know all the benefits it brings.  I know that it helps the body to heal and rejuvenate.  It is necessary to function properly...but

As a mother sleep becomes a luxury.  It becomes something that you probably never do for more than threes hours at a time.  And even then three hours could be considered a good stint.  I am a big believer in co-sleeping as I think it may help with night time feeding and getting maximum sleep.  Sometimes I do wonder whether this is in fact the case but for the most part I feel it all works for me.

Sleep is not really something that I have every really delighted in unless it is morning.  To me morning seems like the best time to sleep.  Sadly though morning sleeping is not always practical.  Being different is not always easy.  In my younger and blurry days I can recall weeks where sleep would be limited to a few hours every night.  When I say few, let's just say three hours back then would almost be an early night.

Since the outback adventure I have been consciously trying to increase my sleep by ensuring early nights.  Until tonight I had been doing reasonably well.  In fact a few nights even saw me in bed before 10pm which is almost unheard of.  Now i don't really want to admit it but I actually think that /i was starting to feel better for my extra rest.  Sure it has not been undisturbed but you can't have everything at once.

Tonight however sleep has been far from the agenda.  Actually that is not entirely true.  I have been thinking about it for the past two hours but so far the thought of walking up the stairs and climbing into bed had just been too much.  I know however that soon the choice will be taken away from me as DD3 is due for a feed.

(sigh)

Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Point + Shoot - The beach





Yes this really is my third post in possibly under an hour.  Part of me knows that I should perhaps delayed the publishing a bit but hey strike while the iron is hot I say.  Plus they are such gorgeous photos I just had to share.  I actually think that the one in the middle would make a perfect jigsaw puzzle.  I am going to put investigating making your own jigsaw puzzles on my to do list.  While the other two could make for a nice game of spot the difference (I assure you they are different photos)

I had an overwhelming desire to build sandcastles this weekend.  So it was off to the beach for us.  Turns out my desire was incredibly short lived mainly due to the fact that DD3 thought it better to destroy rather than build.  

Anyway this post is playing along with the lovely Lou over at Sunny + Scout.  Head on over and say hi and check out some more great photos.

Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Things I know


The first thing I know this week is that I am rather late in getting this post up.  The ever so lovely Shae who host this wonderful link up over at Yay For Home gets this started on a Friday and it is of course now Monday.  Better late than never though hey?

Another thing I know is that I love these link ups as they make it easier for me to get started on a post.  Not only that but I have actually noticed an increase in traffic and to top it all off I love reading all the things that other people know as well.

I know that I am sad this is the last week of the holidays.  There is so much I wanted to do and despite how much we have done I don't think I will be able to fit it all in.

I also know that I wish I was out bush again.  I know that I love the freedom that comes with being in the open, removed from the world at large and the daily grind of regular routine.

Finally I know that I have spent way too much time on the computer this morning and that even though I have two posts to show for it I know that they didn't take up nearly as much time as what I will make out to Hubs when he asks what I did today. (May be read also as I know I will not tell Hubs how much time I wasted on stupid FB games)

Wanna know some more things?  Head over here

Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Sucking it up and moving right along

That is what I want need to do right now, and let me tell you that sometimes it is easier said than done.  I know that it is all about perspective but if my generally easy to please, happy as larry, easy come easy go, pollyanna type of attitude is finding it hard to see the bright side then there is a chance that the silver lining may be beginning to tarnish.

(BIG deep breath in)

Now I know that recently it may have appeared that life has been pretty awesome.  After all I have just returned from an awesome outback adventure.  And don't get me wrong on some levels it has been a really wonderful time.  On others though, ones that I have been trying very hard to ignore it has not been so great.

You may recall that I mentioned a few weeks ago that DD1 was off to visit family in Townsville for ten days.  Now that she has safely returned I can admit to some of the worries that I had about the trip.  As I am sometimes prone to a highly over active imagination I had her plane crashing, terrible car accidents and all manner of disasters occurring while she was gone.  Not to mention the ridiculous notion that perhaps she would just decide that she didn't want to come home.  Anyway aside from all of that I also managed to offend the people that she was staying with.  Just to add a bit more spice to it

The real problem is I don't like acknowledging that we are a blended family.  I feel that by having a child  who's biological father I am no longer with is some sort of failing in life and I just can't get past it.  We (I) can never be perfect now. (Yes yes I know perfection is not really attainable anyway but shouldn't it be something we strive for regardless?)

Like a lot of things lately I need to suck it up and move along.  It has happened, I can't change the past, not that I really want to as there are probably a thousand odd reasons why we are no longer together, the number one being I am now married to the man of my dreams and the love of my life.  Which brings me to what I am grateful for this week.

I am grateful and I mean truly grateful, thank the Lord every day kind of grateful, for my husband.

He is my rock.  My comfort, my everything.  Without him I would not only be alone but lost as well.  He helps me find direction in the world and it is because of him that I walk the path of happiness.  He is caring, kind and selfless.  He never complains about my faults or my lack of housework.  He never grumbles when he walks in after a 12 hour day to find a disheveled house and dinner not exactly waiting on the table.  Instead he greets us with smiles and covers us with hugs and kisses.

I could go on forever about what a wonderful man he is and how incredibly blessed I am to be able to call him my husband but I am tipping you catch my drift.

What are you grateful for?  Head over to Maxabella Loves to see what she is grateful for.



Now this was supposed to have been a linking up post with Maxabella Loves only I have taken to long to get it published so the linky tool has closed so I missed out.  Which I can just add to the list of things I need to suck up and move on from.  Now I know that to you the list seems pretty short but that is just because I am at times a terrible sharer, especially when things are not going so great. So here are some things I have been struggling to suck up.


  1. The fact that DD2 had a tooth pulled out recently
  2. The return of school is inevitable 
  3. People don't have the time to invest in helping as much as I would like
  4. Children will always bicker
  5. I don't have all the answers and apparently nor do I know everything
  6. Houseworks needs to be done every day


Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Sunday, July 10

Things I know

It is that time of the week to once again share


So here is what I know

  • I love, like really really really love spending all day every day with my husband and children.  Seriously for me there is nothing better than us all being together and being able to forget about the rest of the world.
  • Living in the Territory and getting four weeks holidays while the rest of the country only has two is awesome (of course at the next break when we only get one week and the rest get two it is not so awesome but I am a live in the moment kind of gal so no need to think of that yet)
  • The smell of the neighbours cooking bacon for breakfast is infectious.  I wish I had some bacon...
  • Getting away for the week was the best thing I could have done.  I am so glad we ended up going and can't believe I contemplated canceling it all.
  • I feel empowered as a mother being able to use cloth nappies while hanging out in the bush.  There was something incredibly grounding washing my terry squares down by the side of the river. (I was actually only rinsing out the wee rather than washing as such but it still felt pretty cool)

So what do you know?  Head here to play along

Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Saturday, July 9

Finding the Fun

That is how I have spent today.  Finding the fun side of things.  For as long as I can remember people have always commented on my sunny disposition.  When the rest of the world sees storms and dark clouds I can generally find a ray of hope to hold on to.  Unfortunately and without taking anything away from it, but a ray of hope is not always what is needed.  Sure it doesn't hurt but every now and then something else is needs to be included.  For me, right now, that something else is fun.

Actually truth be told it is probably not just now that I have needed to (re)introduce fun into my life.  One of my most uncomfortable memories is of a time when those who were supposed to be closest to me referred to me as the fun police.  Sometimes they would break it up a bit and call me the fun spoiler but on the whole they made it quite clear that I did not know how to have fun (in their opinion anyway).  Needless to say these people are no longer in my life and have not been for quite some time but their words still echo through my ears every now and then.

I must add though, in fairness to those I refer to, there was a some justification in what they said.  Compared to the risks that they considered fun and were willing to take I was a bit of a stick in the mud. Back to now though.

While we were away on our Outback Adventure (which I may well mark as a turning point in my life) I took the time to read a book.  Reading is something I have always loved to do.  I love getting lost in a plot and becoming one with the characters with whom the tales are told of.  I love being taken to new places, learning new things, I just love it all.  As most true writers do I imagine.  However as a mother reading is somewhat of a luxury.  Something that for me, rarely occurs.  Now I have a thousand excuses as to why that is, but at the end of the day I stopped making the time to read.  End of story really.

Making time to read while we were on our adventure was easier said than done.  Which considering I was a passenger for some 1700 km's may sound a little strange but I found it difficult to tear my eyes away from the beautiful and ever changing landscape.  I was worried that if I took the time to read then I would miss something in the passing scenery.

Things like this

The rawness of it all.  The sheer emptiness of it all.  A vast nothingness that sucks you in leaving you overwhelmed with all it's beauty.  The freedom of being surrounded by space.  Clear open space that you don't have to share with anyone.  Well nearly.  Every now and then a fellow freedom traveller would pass.  A friendly nod and flick of the finger or hand shared to show the mutual understanding of the rules of the long roads.  Roads that sometimes never seemed to end.


But alas, I have digressed.  As I am learning I tend to do.

Back to finding the fun.  Which is something I am trying to do based on the book I read which if you are interested is called "Play How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul" by Stuart Brown.  The girls school Principal lent it to me nearly three months ago and I am only just getting to it now.  She thought I might like it and boy was she right.  I felt as if it was written with me in mind.  So many parts rang true and left me feeling inspired and ready to take on more.  A feeling I haven't felt for some time.  Actually a long time.

The essence of the book, as the name suggests, is that to feel complete in life we need to ensure that play is a central focus.  Without play we become stagnant and stale.  As Brown says play is somewhat like oxygen.  We need it to survive.

Since play is essentially fun I am actively looking for ways to make my life a little more fun.  For example things that have to be done (like hanging out the washing) can be made fun by adding in little dance like steps and bopping between picking up pegs and hanging clothes on the line.  It almost felt a little like step class practise today as I was hanging out the nappies and lunging rather than reaching for what I needed.  In fact I even did little crossover steps  here and there.  Before I knew it the washing was on the line and I felt great. 

 It is amazing what a little activity can do.  Which is something that Brown brings up regularly in his book.  For those stuck and unable to play or find a fun side to life he suggests that movement is all that is needed and based on my recent experiences I would have to agree.  

Anyway this post has well and truly exceeded my preferred length and I thank you for your attention.  In a world full of so many distractions I appreciate the time you have taken to read my thoughts.  Without pushing the friendship too far can you please click the box below.  I am an egotistical type of gal and I like the thrill of leader boards.  
Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

Friday, July 8

Refreshed and Recharged

That is how I feel right now.  Well that and a bit stiff and sore.  And I am truly grateful for it.  All of it, even the stiff and sore part.

We have just returned from our outback adventure and let me tell you, it was awesome and then some.

As I sit here I am so a buzz with energy to write that I can't actually find where to start.  And again I am grateful for it, as it means I am inspired and rearing to go.  My creative soul feels alive and ready to grow.

As I flitted between staring blankly at my empty blogger page and my FB home page I came across an item from a blog I like to follow which led to yet another fantastic blog and linking game that I thought I would add to.  Especially as right now I feel like one of the luckiest people around with much to be grateful for.
So here's to Maxabella Loves for hosting I am Grateful and helping me get a little focus to get started and back in to blogging after my much needed break.

I am grateful for the chance to take a week off from the world.











I am grateful for the fact that I live in a place where I can freely drive around the countryside without a worry or care in the world.
travelling the outback












I am grateful for my wonderful mother and mother in law who looked after our home and animals which allowed us to take this precious week away. 


pretty purple flower in the australian bush
 Which gave me the opportunity to take these photos and cherish some amazing family time
perfect bush swimming area

















I am grateful for the fact I can walk and climb over rocks and get to experience such wondrous beauty.

I am grateful for the fact that we know how to find such a beautiful place and not have to worry about crocodiles.