Monday Mention - Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Since I have a little over twelve hours till the #flashfictionchallenge deadline for the first round it seems only natural that I take time out and write a blog post. Of course when I say take time out I don't necessarily mean from working on my entry. Oh no.

More like time out from gazing through my Facebook feed. I thought that some idle mind time might allow for the thoughts of my story to gather and develop. The jury is still out on whether it worked or not.

For reasons beyond my control #notreally I found myself at an indoor play centre earlier today. A notepad and pen were also present and I had nothing else to do. One would of thought that a perfect time for the story of a lifetime to unfold. Instead though a rambling recount of some random thoughts were set free. 

For those interested if all goes to plan this will be shared on Tuesday for IBOT, I may not have my entry done yet but I am organised in some ways. Which is also kinda why I am here now as well.

Anyways, for today's Monday Mention I want to mention some thanks to Emily from Emily Morgan Writes because on Friday she awarded me with

Which I gotta say is kinda cool. 

Especially when I read stuff like this

on a list that includes blogs like Have A Laugh On Me, Essentially Jess and Always Josefa. I can not begin to explain what kind of happy it makes. Though there are times when I question why I need such validation, but then is validation not the crux of life sometimes? Oh the thoughts we think hey?

Recently Circle of Moms was polling for their Top Aussie Mom Blogs. I signed myself up with great anticipation a few years ago but since then vowed and declared I would stay right away. I hadn't really been blogging all that long. I thought that perhaps it would give me some feedback on where I stood in the blogosphere.

Clearly I had no idea.

For those that don't know Circle Of Moms compiles list for bloggers to ask to be included in. To make the top 25 you must poll the most votes. It is one of those vote every day things so if you have a large and loyal readership pleading for votes is an easy way to make the top of the list.

Which really is all well and good and I don't mean to sound like I begrudge those that make the list because I don't, because just quietly I would have kittens with excitement if I made that list. Or any list for that matter. And I certainly don't mean to imply that I don't have loyal readers because believe me I know I do and I thank each and every one of you that takes the time to stop by and read whatever words and thoughts I have shared. Seriously it makes my day to know when people have stopped by.

It just gets back to that need for validation I guess.

Anyway part of the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award thing is that I should pass it on to 10-12 other bloggers and then go and tell them about it. Which actually causes me a bit of a dilemma in many ways.

The first is I am time poor and a tad lazy. Linking all those blogs in would be a pain in the you know where and something I am not very interested in right at this present point in time. Which in case you have forgotten is twelve hours away from a deadline needing no more than a thousand words for a romance, set in an apple orchard with reference to a fake moustache.

At last count I was 150 words down. But I am now doubtful as to their usefulness. But I digress.

The other issue with choosing people is that means there will be people I don't choose. It sucks being left out, I know from far too much experience, as I am sure most of us do in one way or another. I don't need to worry about someone feeling left out because they didn't make my list.

Yes I know this means I miss out on knowing I made someone's day by putting them on my list but that is just the way the cookie crumbles. And cookie crumbs I can deal with.

So tell me, who would you put on the list?

Monday Mention - Bunnings Supporting Community Gardens

The importance of a good community can never be under estimated. In fact a good supportive community is the cornerstone of society. It provides the foundation for us to grow and prosper and gives an opportunity for us to give back to it if we so desire.

As much as I am a hermit type recluse, I also value and understand the importance of a good strong community. In fact as much as I can, I actively participate in a whole range of community minded events, both in the real world and online.

Something I have been thinking about lately is trying to get my online communities and my real life communities a little more intwined. You see if this were the case I may just be able to secure enough sponsorship to cover my accommodation and flights to attend the ProBlogger event next month. Oh my that would be just beyond lovely. (Hint, hint big company who wants to help out little old me, or small one if you have some spare cash to share) 

But I digress, because last week the opportunity did arise for me to intertwine some real life and online life stuff. These beautiful ladies came to Zany's school.

Tracey and Tammy from the local Bunnings with some of the wonderful donations
they brought for the school's garden

One of the garden mums who has helped
create a wonderful community garden at our
local primary school.
An inspirational and amazing woman.

 Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the lovely lady you see on the left there, plus few others who were a little more camera shy, the school has been incredibly fortunate in having a very special community garden created for the students. One that while has taken time has also grown at great speeds thanks to the generosity of the donations from Bunnings.

In fact thanks to Tammy and the crew at Bunnings many aspects of the garden have been able to happen a lot quicker than were first anticipated.

The planting day last week saw a fantastic range of fruiting trees go into the ground. Including cumquat, advocado, billy goat plum, black sapote and a pomegrante. Not to mention some tomato plants and pumpkin seedlings for the vegetable beds.

It was also a great opportuntiy for the students to get out in the garden and participate in the growing of sustainable plants. Some of the younger students will actually be able to pick fruit of some of the quicker growing trees. Which is a pretty exciting thought. Especially for the little brothers and sisters (like Teapot) that were tagging along.  All of this years students will get to sample some of the pumpkins and tomatos that will hopefully grow from the seedlings. 

Just think in years to come these little hands will be picking fruit from these trees.

Of course Bunnings is but one of the many wonderful supporters of the garden. The local Hireworks donated a hole digger for the weekend to make the actual planting a lot easier for the kids. Which actually meant it was a lot easier for the dear dad's that were roped into hole digging.

The most wonderful thing about community though, and I think this is the part that I love most, every little bit helps. All it takes is a little bit from everyone and before you know it the job is done and wonderful things have been created.

What is your favourite part of a community?

Joining Alicia's community for #openslather

Monday Mention - America For Alyssa

At some point in my blogging journey I recall that of a Monday I would join in a little thing called Monday Mention. It was hosted by Tammy over at Ramblings Of A Brokenhearted Mummy and as a relative newbie blogger at the time I thought it was a great way to not only share some blogging love but also discover new blogs that I could dream to aspire to.

The idea of Monday Mention was to share some bloggy love and mention any blogs or blog posts that had caught your eye the previous week. Sadly though it was not exactly a well attended linky and before long I drfited on to other things.

Today I thought that I might resurect the good old Monday Mention but with a slight twist. To start with it won't be a linky, it will just be me mentioning whatever it is that has tickled my fancy. It may also not be the most regular of things, just as the mood strikes or whenever I come across something I just can't help but mention.

So what is it this week that I just have to mention and share with you all?

America For Alyssa

I first came across Alyssa's story thanks to Carmen a few weeks ago. I instantly liked the America For Alyssa Facebook page and offered to spread the word as far as I could. Which essentially meant I planned on writing a blog post because that is the furtherest way to spread my word. (Though if I continue to use words like furtherest in that sense I may cease to spread at all).

Anyways I imagine at this point you haven't clicked through the links yet and are wondering who is Alyssa and what has America got to do for her.

Well Alyssa is a surving craniopagus cojoined twin. She and her sister Bethany were born 2001. Which just so happens to be the same year that Lovely was born in case you were wondering, though you probably weren't. The reason why I bring it up is because Alyssa and Bethany were actually born within a month of Lovely. For the life of me though I can not remember hearing anything about it.

Nor can I recall  hearing of their emergency surgery a month later. Sadly Bethany lost her fight for life soon after this and Alyssa endured twenty three and half hours of surgery including not one but two cardiac arrests. Again I was in such a new baby bubble I was oblivious to it all. So much so that I missed not one but two reports shown on Sixty Minutes in the months after the twins birth.

In case you are interested the stories can be found here to save you the search

The Nolan Twins
The Nolan Twins Part Two

Having just watched them both now though, I can understand why as a new mum I may have blocked it all out. She says as she wipes the tears away.

One thing that I couldn't help but notice, both in the interviews and through the Facebook page is the courage and determination that Mary, Alyssa's mum, faces all that is before her with. As well as Bethany and Alyssa, Mary also has three wonderful sons.

Next year will see the first ever meeting of Families of Conjoined Twins held in Kansaa USA. One can only image what it would be like for Mary and Alyssa to catch up with people in a similar boat to theirs. Hence America For Alyssa.

Getting to America is not going to be an easy process. The funds needed are in order of $20, 000. Which for anyone is fair wad of cash. Mary and Alyssa are not asking for individual handouts because Mary knows how everyone is facing their own financial hardships. What they would really love though is as many Facebook likes on their page as possible. Something we can all easily help out with!

The more Facebook likers the more likely a large scale sponsor. So what are you waiting for go and get liking the America for Alyssa page.

I must confess I love your blog

Alternatively known as, I must confess to being super duper excited to be this week's host of

Normally hosted on a Monday by the lovely Kirsty over at My Home Truths today she has taken time off to go galavanting around the country side. While there may or may not be quality internet in the country side Kirsty would much rather be living it up with her precious family during the school holidays. And who can really blame her for that?

So while she is sitting by the indoor heated pool or watching the kids on the bouncing pillow I am here to host this week's confession. As I mentioned last week the topic for this week was to confess to the blogs that you love.

Which just between you and me turned out to be no easy feat! In fact I must confess that I did at one point wish that I had of chosen something else for us all to confess to.

There are just so many wonderful blogs out there how could I possible choose which ones to talk about in one post! 

As it turns out, I must confess that I can't choose or limit which blogs I want to talk about as loving the most. It is like telling my children which one of them is my favourite. They are all my favourite!

So instead I am going to confess to all the ways I keep track and share the blogs that I love.

For almost as long as I have been blogging, I have been sharing with my readers, in one way or another some of the blogs I love to read.

Currently, one of the ways that I do that is with this image in my side bar.

It links to my blog roll loving board over on Pinterest 

It was super easy to set up and is a great way of keeping my must reads in one place. Should I ever be sitting around idly with lots of spare blog reading time on my hands. 

The reality is more like, given all the things I like to do while I am on the computer or my phone, I rarely get time to Pin and don't think to update it regularly. Actually, I also refuse to give into yet another distraction that I think Pinterest is, but that is a whole other post. 

Another way I currently keep track of must read blogs is with my bloggy button box. Again in the side bar but this time right down the very bottom. It is a collection of buttons from blogs that I have passed through in my travels.

It is still only a new addition and therefore a work in progress. But I must say, I am a bit of a fan of my efforts.

It is all thanks to Emily over at Have a laugh on me. She recently asked me for some links to some posts I did a while back on making blog buttons and social media buttons. She wanted to give it a go (and what a fine go she gave it) Anyways it got me thinking how you see so many people with grab my button but rarely do you see grabbed buttons.

Well I just changed all of that. There are still more buttons from blogs I love that I need to include like this one (who in 2016, when I am editing broken links, has changed her blog name from what it was in 2013 and no longer has a blog button because her site is now super professional as she is a fully fledged writer with books and everything) If you have kids and are in Sydney make sure you check out Hello Sydney Kids for heaps of fun places to go and things to do.

Anyway regardless of what she is up to in 2016 in 2013 Seana just happened to be someone else who let me know my button post helped them. You can not imagine the goosebumples this kind of stuff gives me. But enough of all the blogs I love and the different ways I share that love.

I wonder if any of my readers are old enough to remember when I did Monday Mentions... Though when I say I did I mean I joined in with someone else hosting... Like Mum Talks Autism and her meme I love your blog

But enough from me, I want to get reading on all the blogs you love.

Joining in is super easy, all you need to do is put your post link the the linky tool below and then head around to have a read of all those who have done the same.



If you want to be super tricky you can also add a lovely little button to your post. The code is


<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.myhometruths.com/" title="My Home Truths"><img alt="My Home Truths" src="http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z380/lourhi/I-Must-Confess-Button-150x150_zpsa33b2bb0.jpg" style="border: none;" width="120" /></a></div>

Next week the link up will be back with Kirsty at My Home Truths. Thank you so much to all those who have joined in and shared some bloggy love. Thanks also to Kirsty for entrusting me with I must confess while she enjoys a much deserved holiday.

Kirsty did say I could also choose the prompt for next week. Sadly I so far haven't been able to come up with one. Any suggestions?

Me & YOU - Making it Matter, Wk 2

As I wipe the sleep out of my eyes I am torn between writing another awesome blog post or doing the dishes.  Yes I said torn, and yes I meant it.  You see part of my mantra for 2012 is all about making it matter.  Which, if you know me personally, you will know is a pretty big change of direction.  Actually it is so much of a change it is like a complete turn around.

For the past however many years I have done a superbly wonderful job of letting things not matter.  It didn't matter if the washing got done today, eventually it would.  It didn't matter if the dishes waited till, I was ready, which may well be a good twenty four hours after they used.  So many little things just didn't matter.  I was beyond carefree.

Which is nice in a way-to-relaxed kind of way.  Though at times I feel that relaxed is just a very polite way of saying lazy.  With that in mind I am setting out to cure my insatiable desire to do nothing and instead make things matter.

I am so dedicated to the cause I even went and made myself a cute little button, because as well all know I just love buttons.  I am not sure I made it the same way a proper button maker would but for now it will work just fine for me.

For the most part my Making it Matter posts will be what I link up with The Mother Experiment's Me & YOU Monday.  If it weren't for Me & YOU I can't help but wonder if I ever would have made it realising the importance of making it matter.  If there is something in your life you want to change or make matter come and share the journey.  You will be amazed at the effect it will have just by having it out there.

Last week I chose four things to make matter.  Good quality and regular sleep, staying on top of the regular household chores, being present, having fun and not wasting time online.  For the most I did a pretty good job of making these things matter.  I did still waste a little time but not nearly as much as once before and a girls gotta take time out somehow.

Just between you and me I have almost enjoyed doing a load of washing a day.  I have kept it to only the one and it has always been put away as soon as it comes in and it has all been so easy.  Of course as I write this I actually am slipping behind just slightly but as it is still fairly early there is plenty of time for that to be rectified.  On the upside though those dishes I mentioned at the start of the post no longer need doing.

One thing I have noticed as well is that by regularly doing just a little here and there I can actually start to notice a difference which naturally only inspires me to do more.

This week is hub's first week of holidays.  We had planned to do a massive declutter.   It all sounded so lovely a great big clean out to start the year with.   Of course having adventure's every day outside the house would also be great.  I guess this is that precarious balance of life that first world life is full of.

Whether I like to admit it or not there is too much crap laying around here.  Pure and simple.  There is no need for it all to be taking up precious space in my already busting at the seams little town house.  It needs to be gone through and I may as well take advantage of hubs being able to lend a hand.  He is less attached to the rubbish than I so it is always quicker and easier when he helps.  I tried to convince myself that I would do it when the girls go back to school but realised I was probably kidding myself.

So for this week that is what will matter.  Cleaning out the clutter.  As well the Constants.  As the name suggests they are things that constantly need to matter.  There is too many to type out as often as I think they will be mentioned so it is best if they just get all grouped together.  In a nutshell though constants are things like, exercise, washing, dishes, writing, being present, having fun, and the like.  The daily little things that I want to matter each and every day.

Next week we will be visiting my sister interstate, which I am more than a little excited about.  We will be gone for 8 glorious days.  I am hoping to have a heap of scheduled posts all ready to roll but only time will tell if that goes to plan.  Thankfully for Me & YOU readers though I have that post already sorted.  Over the next few weeks I will be concentrating on going into more detail about what Making it Matter is all about.

For now though head on over to The Mother Experiment and see what everyone else is up to this week.  Then make sure you pop back next week to see how it all went.  And hey don't forget you can always join in too.  The more the merrier.

Monday Mention - Diary of SAHM

Well once again it is Monday and once again I am linking up with the lovely Tammy over at Ramblings of a Broken Hearted Mummy for her Monday Mention link up.

This week I would like to introduce you to a lovely mummy blogger who is one of my regular reads.  One of the things that I love most about is that she actually lives quite near to me.  Since in the scheme of things I really live in nothing more than a big town (despite it technically being a capital city) I think it is pretty cool that I managed to stumble across a local blogger.  I am sure that there are probably many many local bloggers near me but as yet I haven't found you :(

So this lovely mum to four is open and honest in her writing.  As well as a little crazy (in that awesome kind of way) and highly entertaining.  She tackles the big issues head on and continually puts herself out there.  So without further adieu I would like to share with you

Click the little butterfly and it will take you straight over to the ever so lovely Jess at Diary of SAHM  Make sure you put your feet up, grab drink and have a good poke around,

 there are some great posts over there.

Monday Mention - Modern Day Redneck

With so many wonderful blogs floating around in the blogosphere it is not always easy to decide who I will give my Monday Mention to.  Some of my all time favourite blogs can be found a little further down the page on the side bar and a few of these have also snuck in here for a bit of a mention.  I do plan on adding a few more buttons but as yet this little job is still hidden somewhere on the to do list.

This week I want to recommend something a little different from my usual mummy blogging reads.  This week I want you to spend some time with 

Modern Day Redneck

Now I love MDR not just because he happens to have a very similar template to APL (look for the little birds on the top right of screen) but because I just love the expressions he uses.  For example who knew that a nesting box could be as cute as a mouse?  Still makes me giggle.

Like many good bloggers MDR writes with a touching honesty and talks to the reader like a trusted friend.  Even though MDR is only a new find I feel like I have known him for ever as well.  Even though we are literally on the other side of the world from each other there is still much in common.  I find it very easy to relate to what is being said.

What I really love though is that he is a he.  Sometimes to me it feels as if blogging is full of mums trying to wade through life so reading this completely different point of view is more than appealing to me.

Anyway don't just take my word for it head on over and check it out for yourself.

Monday Mention is a wonderful link up hosted by Tammy over at

(which is also a great read if you haven't been there before)  Head on over to find some more great reading and as always thanks for stopping by :)

Monday Mention - My Big Nutshell

Good Morning Monday!

I am rather pleased to see that the lovely Tammy over at Ramblings of a Broken Hearted Mummy is back this week with her Monday Mention Link up.  I am also pleased to be able to say that I have managed to find a few spare minutes to join on in.

Since R U Ok? day is this Thursday I thought that it would be fitting to mention a blog that has done some wonderful work in spreading the word about the importance of taking the time to ask someone if they are in fact ok.

I was fortunate enough to come across the blog in question through another weekly link up, though now I can't recall whether it was Thankful Thursday or TIK or possibly even I'm grateful, not that it really matters I guess.  What matters is that I found her and now you will too.

This wonderful Aussie Mum blogger writes in a professional and engaging manner on a range of topics.  She is entertaining and amusing and quite possible a little crazy but in that zany totally awesome way that generally leaves you feeling a little in awe of her greatness.

Ok so to unveil this week's mention cue the drum roll now ... ... ...

I am of course referring to Gemma over at

(See I told you she was awesome)

Make sure you check out Tammy's blog for more great Monday Mentions.