There's something I need to say

I came across this little flower today
when I stopped to watch some waves for
a bit. I love how something that is
essentially a weed still has such a
beauty to it. 

For those avidly following on my adventure tales this one might seem a out of place. Given that when last I wrote it was only day 58 and all. I promise I will get to sharing it all, just for today I wanted to share the moment.

It is funny the things that one learns about oneself when travelling on the road. And not just oneself either. Much insight can be gained about those travelling with you as well. Though I guess those that are truly astute about their inner being and the people around them may become aware of such things without the need to spend two hundred and twenty eight days moving from one spot to another. 

Yes that’s right today marks the the two hundred and twenty eighth day since we packed up and hit the road. It makes my heart race at great pace to think we actually made it to leaving. In the lead up I did have my doubts. Mr Awesome and I are both well known for being gunnas. You know gunna do this and gunna do that but more often than not nothing actually eventuates. I feared that #ouradventureofalifetime was going to pan out that way. 

Beyond thankful doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about the fact that those fears were unfounded. Waking up each day without a worry, care or concern in the world is an amazing feeling and for me it has taken this adventure to be able to do so. I had always thought of myself as a relatively stress free easy going type of soul. With the pressures and expectations of normal life removed I realise now I know what stress free living is all about. And let me tell you it is great, in fact it is better than great.

Mind you to say that I have loved and embraced every moment of the trip would not necessarily true. It has not always been rainbows and flowers. There have been days where the children have managed to reduce me to an endless flow of tears. As children a want to do I might add. However I don't think those times have been nearly as many as if we had of still been at home, doing the same thing that we have always done.

There have still been many a day where I have dreaded the onset of feeding hour. Which I do believe is worsened with all the fresh air and outside time our roadtripping lifestyle blesses us with. The continual rumbling tummies of children seem to have rumbled even more so. However a lack of choices combined with the increased rumbling has lead to emptier plates than ever before.

It saddens me to think that this lifestyle has to come to an end. Deep down I did always know that it would I just longed and hoped it would be so much later rather than sooner. As it turns out it is actually the other way.

According to our grand master plan we should still have another hundred and thirty seven days on the road. Sadly that will not be the case. 

It literally pains my heart to say that our journey will end in about twenty three days. Give or take a few. In so many ways it makes me feel like some type of failure. Which while deep down I know is ridiculous I still can’t help but feel it.

As always though, all is not lost.

For as much as #ouradventureofalifetime is temporarily being put on hold a new exciting chapter in our lives is getting ready to begin. You see when the end of the month arrives and our travelling days end we will not be pulling up stumps in sunny Darwin. Instead we are going to be in Bunbury, experiencing winter and all that comes with starting life a fresh in a new place. Which in so many ways is just a little exciting.

Things I Know About Perspective

 If you were hanging round this neck of the woods on Tuesday you would have read something already about the notion of perspective. It followed on from my very first post of the year where I welcomed the start of 2014 and pondered over the possibility of selecting a word to guide me through the year.

Even now, as I type this, I am not really sure how perspective really fits as a word of the year type word but at this point it is all I have got so I am running with it.

There is something about it (perspective) that just keeps floating around the inside of my brain telling me to keep it at the forefront of my mind. Not being one who likes to ignore the rather random and nonsensical thoughts that wander between my ears from time to time I am trying to explore this whole perspective thing a bit further.

Perspective - it's all about how you look at it

original images by raZna

I know that perspective is the way that you see things.

I know that your perspective depends on who you are and what you have been through.

I know that my perspective may be different to yours and vice versa.

I know that perspective changes with both time and experience.

I know that stopping to consider the perspective of others is an important human trait.

I know that seeing someone else's perspective is not always easy.

I know that even when we try and consider someone else's perspective unless they tell us what their perspective is we will never really know for sure.

I know that sometimes we may never understand someone else's perspective, but we should always try.

I know that it is our perspective that helps to shape our life and the way it is lived.

I know that our perspective is our choice.

I know that I am linking  up the The Miss Cinders

Stopping to be thankful

When I first started to blog regularly with the idea of one day being a top notch blogger the only way I could get readers was if I joined a link up.  Almost religiously for twelve months or more I am sure, I would write a Thankful Thursday post. One of my favourite bloggers, Kate, would host a link up and I just loved to join in.  Writing a post about being thankful each week was only too easy and fitted quite well with the theme, if you will of A Parenting Life.

Only times changed and Kate grew and decided that hosting Thankful Thursday each week was no longer what she wanted to do. She kindly passed the link up on to another super cool blogger and went on with being awesome. For some reason though joining in for me no longer had such an appeal and being thankful on a Thursday seemed to just pass me by.

Actually being thankful on any day seemed to just pass me by. 

Which is kind of a shame because there was something really beautiful about consciously thinking each week about what I was thankful for. It helped me keep a sunny perspective when black clouds wanted to rain on my parade.

It feels like there has been a lot of rain of late. Well at least in a metaphorical sense. Every post of late feels like it has a poor woe is me sign attached to it. Not intentionally of course, apparently that is just the way the cookie has crumbled. 

Well no more I say. 

In fact rain, rain go away is what I say. (Again only metaphorically because I would actually love a good real rain to swing by and relieve some of this stifling heat)

So without further ado here are some of the things that I am a little bit thankful for of late.

I am thankful that this little guy has taken to dropping by my front garden

I am thankful that his little friend has as well, though she is a tad more camera shy,

I am thankful that my bag did not fall off the back of my car when I drove off from the shops today.

My bag sat here for a good couple of km's
before I discovered it's whereabouts

I am super thankful that a kind lady went out of her way to follow me down the road so she could let me know about said bag still sitting at the back of my car.

I am thankful that even after a long day at work Mr Awesome still has time and energy to not just talk to the girls when he gets home but to actually be there as well. You know like really be there in the moment listening and engaging with them.

I am thankful that these little beauties

passed by yesterday and deposited some much longed for rain. I will be even more thankful if they could return on a daily basis sooner rather than later.

I am thankful that Teapot slept this afternoon, allowing me to not only write this post but just gather my thoughts as a whole.

What are you thankful for today?

Things I know about deadlines and choosing story titles

The time has come, the walrus said to share of what you know! 

Image from here

Ok so maybe that is not quite what he said, but writer's license and all.

Hello and welcome to another week of Things I Know! Well and truly one of the easiest link ups to come and join in with because we all know something!

This week I know all about the joy of deadlines. Even though I had plenty, of time, well forty eight hours, to get my story written I was sitting there with less than five minutes to spare trying to decide on a title. And by that I mean I had texted a friend two options and was waiting for her reply.

I know that I should have gone with Love in an Apple Orchard rather than A Grandparent's Love as the title. My friend, totally oblivious to the urgency of my question took her sweet time in replying leaving me to make my own decision. I went with the grandparent love one on account of it being already saved to the file as that and there not being a whole lot of time.

I know that play centres provide me with a great place to sit and write. Though not necessarily the things that I need to get written most.

I know that being so consumed with writing for forty eight hours is pretty exciting. Though for as much consumption in that time there was also procrastination.

I know that waiting till the end of October for the results to come out is not going to be nearly as exciting.

I know that forgetting about it all until then is a brilliant idea, but perhaps easier said than done.

I know that there is nothing more I can do now. Just hope and wait. At the end of the second round I need to be in the top 5 of my group to progress to the next round. Oh how I hope I have written a better story than twenty other people. As much as first would be great I will be pretty pumped (and surprised) to make the top 5.

I know that I am a bit pleased with myself to have streamlined the appearance of all my blogs. I was chatting to a designer guy recently who was trying very hard to charm me out of  $6o a month so that I could give the blog a very professional looking make over. He rightly pointed out in no uncertain terms that I had a very disjointed look across the board so it pleases me to know I found a way around that without parting with my money.

I know that there is a part of me that wants to live in a world where I pay out $60 a month to make the blogs look pretty. Purely because I know if I lived in that world it would mean I would be earning way more than that expenditure. Why else would there be any expenditure?

I know that blogging is not about making money. But any I can get from it would be nice.

I know that I was stoked to see nine lovely people come and share all the things they knew last week.

I know you know something, and I know you should share it here!

Grab the button below (or just link back to this post) and tell us what you know.

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Voting Day 2013

Image found here

Today Australia decides who gets the next turn at stuffing up, sorry I mean, running this great nation into which I was born.

Mixed emotions is one way of describing how I feel about it. Bloody scared and fed up with lies and not knowing what to believe another.

There was a time when I was all over politics. And by that I mean I studied it in my final year of highschool and then in my first few years of university. In fact, just between you and me there was even a time when I briefly desired to be a world leader.

Then I realised how few people liked world leaders and thought a stay at home mum was a much better option. Everyone loves them. Well at least their kids generally do.

Actually that is not quite what happened, I got sick of studying and decided to just go and get a job. Why did I get sick of studying you may ask? Well because not too long after I started my arts degree the political powers that be of the time, started to cut funding to almost every subject I was interested in.

Image found here

Anyways back to today's election because as much as I may wish it weren't going to occur, it is. There is no way round it. My heart goes into palpitations just thinking about it.

Dramatic and quick change are not exactly something I am comfortable with and according to the latest newspaper poll in the know, that is exactly where this election is heading.

Excuse my while my stomach does a few flips and I regain my composure.

The thought of Abbot leading our nation really does turn my stomach. Aside from him playing for the wrong team (as far as I am concerned anyway) I just don't like the picture of himself that he portrays.

(I did want to say I don't like him but I don't personally know him so I guess I am not really in a position to say I don't like him. And while I am splitting my own hairs perhaps I would be better saying the picture the media portrays of him is what I don't like but surely he has some input into his media image?)

As far as I am concerned Tony Abbot and the Liberal party will bring nothing but doom. He is a short sighted homophobic misogynist that has no consideration for anyone outside his social class. Since I am most certainly not in his social class and not likely to get much consideration it is not likely that I will do anything to aid him becoming the Prime Minister.

Which is a shame because his representative for where I live is a great candidate. A woman even. Though given the redneck goose she was up against in the 2010 election it is not exactly surprising. It was disappointing to see that Labor failed to provide a more challenging opponent this time round as well. Instead giving the constituents another blokey bloke who I doubt has the brain capacity to adequately represent the view points of anything other than what the party demands.

The infuriating rage that the local Labor candidate elicits from me is of a somewhat intense nature. The mere mention of his name has the ability to send me into a frenzy of fury. Likened only to way I feel about Tony Abbott (and the Liberal party as a whole for that matter) I struggle to understand how there has not been a mix up?

To make my voting woes even worse the Labor candidate for the Senate was deemed a "Captains Pick" as she was chosen to stand for the seat over a long term and dedicated incumbent who had not announced her desire to not stand.

It is so hard to align my vote with my heart. How about you?

Rewinding on the weekend with Maxabella

Messages from the Universe

It is no secret that I am a huge believer in all things fairy like. I have also always been pretty open about my belief in the powers that be and everything happening for it's own (not always apparent) reason. It is a belief system that has served me well through out my thirty five years of existence so far.

Image found here
Thanks to Billy Frank Alexander Design

Sometimes however it is not always as straight forward as what I might like it to be.
Sometimes all I feel is a jumbled mess with far too many possibilities for me to face.
Sometimes what I think is a message full of meaning turns out to be something a lot more simple and vice versa leaving me wondering what on earth I am meant to do. Which may very well be what I am faced with now.

Actually I am always wondering what I am supposed to do now, just this time I am drawing a complete blank and have no idea as to which way I should go.

The other day thanks to a bloggers Facebook group that I am a part of I heard that the Oz Blog Hosting Facebook page had a ticket to up for grabs to attend the ProBlogger event. Even though it is on the Gold Coast and even though I am not exactly financially flush with cash I entered anyway. As if I would win.

Naturally I won.

So thank you Universe for that one. But what about the plane tickets? And accommodation? Not that I want to appear greedy, just realistic.

There is a part of me that says to hell with the expense just book the tickets and run with it. After all the universe did send the event ticket your way...

Then the sensible part over rules and shouts down the stupidity of that idea. After all things like food and the mortgage really need to be given top priority don't they? Especially since when I decided to go the Digital Parents Conference back in March I knew it ruled out any prospect of making it to ProBlogger.

Only upon returning from said conference in March I am left with a whole range of emotions that leave me hankering to go to ProBlogger. Things that I thought I would get but didn't, the first time round, I am sure I will get next month. If of course I was there. Which I could be because I have a ticket, if only it weren't so far away.

Sigh.

Oh the toils and tribulations of being a blogger.

Anyone with some spare frequent flyer points they want to share?

Or a business looking for some blog exposure?

Call me as quick as you can!

Oh and just in case you still haven't seen my latest vlog now you can

Joining in all the fun of blogging on a Tuesday with Jess for #IBOT

A bit about guns, wants, needs and parenting

Last week while I was running away other bloggers were busy getting down to the nitty gritty and discussing toy guns and whether children should be allowed to play with them.

Danielle over at Keeping Up With The Holsbys raised the topic which prompted 10% Inspired to share her view.

Both left me with plenty of food for thought.

So where do I stand on the toy gun debate?

Well I agree with Mrs Holsby. Guns are not toys. Guns do kill people, but only if there is an idiot controlling the gun. I am so incredibly glad that as the mother of girls I have not had to face the barrage of requests for toy gun paraphernalia. However, I am not adverse to water pistols or even water bombs for that matter. They are just good natured fun and fall into the same catergory as laser tag and paint ball type games which are essentially gun based.

I also agree with CJ, who knew from an early age that guns had a purpose, were dangerous and how to handle them. She grew up in the country and guns were a way of life. I didn't grow up in the country so much as a back water capital city. This means I have clear recollections of my dad taking us out bush for a shot with his rifles. 

While my girls haven't ever held a gun they have seen one being used. We are a bit fond of magpie goose stew. Sadly you can't exactly get a magpie goose at the local Woolies so we go hunting for them. One of my proudest mummy moments was watching them not get squimish or upset as they watched the birds become dinner.

I have never really been a girly girl and I dread the thought of having girls that are. I have always wanted for my girls to grow up strong and independent. While recognising a difference between genders I have never wanted my girls to feel like they are held back based on the bits between their legs.

Which leads me to my next train of thought, prompted by yesterday's post by our IBOT hostess with the mostest. Jess explained how she refuses to give her children the world.

Super, super wise words right there I tell you.

I don't give my children the world either. Partially because I just can't but even if I could I am not sure I would want to give into their each and every demand. Raising demanding and greedy little so and sos is not on my list of things to do. Raising kind, caring, compassionate and thoughtful little beings however is exactly what I hope to achieve.

As a single income family with three children there are lots of things outside our realms of possibilities. Things like overseas holidays, or weekly trips to the movies or a treat every time we go to the shops. However all of those things are wants as opposed to needs. At the end of the day nobody needs all the things they want anyway.

And anyway as long as your basic needs (food, shelter, clothes, love) are met should we really want for anything else when there are so many in the world that don't even have that?

What really got my thoughts a churning when I read the post though was the bit about needing to be the kind of person that you want you children to be. That hit home to me with a resounding thud.

That is kind of person I want to be as well. Someone I want my children to follow proudly behind. The kind of mother that passes a lasting legacy on to her offspring, who in turn pass onto theirs.

Only to be that kind of mother I need so much more than I currently have.

I need commitment, dedication, drive, energy and focus, and that is just to get started. And honestly, just between you and me, some days I struggle to find any and all of those things when I need them most.

Joining Jess and the IBOT gang

I Love Your Blog -As you blog through adversity #DPCON13

This week's inspiration for the blogs I love comes from experiences at DPCON13. In fact so much experience has come from these three blogs that I have actually had to break it all up into two posts.

One of the discussion panels at the conference was on blogging through adversity. It was moderated by Grace from withsomegrace.com who by the way, did so wonderfully.

The discussion created by these amazingly strong and resilient women is one that is both heart breaking and warming. There strength, determination and pure ability to just keep on keeping on is of endless inspiration to me.

On the panel was

Lori from  Random Ramblings of a SAHM (RRSAHM), 

Tiff from My Three Ring Circus, 

and

Rachel from Mummy Muddles. 

Three amazing women, each with their own heartbreaking story to tell. Each doing so with beauty, poise and an honest openness that touches my heart in the most deepest of ways.

My Three Ring Circus and RRSAHM were both blogs that were already on my totally love list prior to the conference. In fact there is actually a whole other post about them here. Mummy Muddles however was one I had not before read. Upon returning home and having a read through a few posts, it didn't take me long to decide that it was on the totally love list.

Actually just hearing Rachel read one of her posts later on that evening I knew I would love her blog.

The rawness of Rachel's pain and grief is very confronting, and I will be honest, I can't stop in there all the time, I am an emotional reader at the best of times. It is like I absorb the sadness and sometimes it can be hard to shake. Which I feel terrible saying because I am sure that is how Rachel must feel only she doesn't get the chance to click away or not go and read...Through all of this though Rachel's words are penned in such a beautiful way that it is a criminal for them not to be read. By everyone.

Have you got a blog you love to read? 

Join in the I Love Your Blog meme hosted by MTA

Monday bloody Monday

Yes I know that is not how the songs goes, but I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I see myself as a bit of a rule breaker at times and I guess this is one of those times. Plus I couldn't think of another title and for some reason my crazy little brain likes to have a title before I get much written.

It feels like forever since I just sat down and wrote. Just let the words purge forth, freeing themselves from the grasps that somehow created and then held them within my mind. One week home from all that DPCON13 was and I am still reeling from the effects. Thankfully I no longer feel as battered and bruised as what I first did. 

There is no doubt that the experience has changed me, and that is certainly not a bad thing. It is all just a bit different to my expectations. My sister wisely pointed out to me that she doesn't have expectations, which means she is never disappointed. Words that I can clearly recall hearing my mother say at various times as well.

To a certain extent I can see where they are coming from. There is however a part of me that thinks if you don't have expectations how can you grow? In my mind expectations are a bit of a double edge sword. For as much as they may lead you to disappointment at times, without them there can be an absence of motivation and dedication.

Being the eternal optimist that I am it is a little hard at times not to expect the best, or at least expect more than the worst. 

And that I can not give away

As much as my title may suggest that today has not been a good Monday. It has been. The four day weekend was just what the doctor ordered. I actually think he tried to order a few more of them but apparently that is just not to be. Thankfully after this short four day week, we are blessed with a week off from school. Which again is not nearly long enough but I am thinking it is possibly one of those examples where there would never be enough.

For now though there is a lovely swimming pool calling my name. As much as I may have ushered Mr Awesome and the kids out of the door to provide me with some quite writing time the stifling heat has me beat and I am off to join them in the cool refreshing water.

Make sure you pop back tomorrow, I have a little giveaway you might be interested in.

Healing Foods

It is no secret that food and diet impact our health and well being. It also doesn't take a rocket scientist to at least vaguely know a good and bad difference. However, how do you know what food is more beneficial for a particular problem?

Well unless you are some dietician and nutritional expert you probably won't. Unless of course you like to keep  your finger on the pulse and do a bit of light reading on a range of topics. Like my real life Bestie who reads all kinds of amazing books just because she wants to learn more and look after her body as much as she can.

Thankfully for me I have her and she is only too happy to pass on any important tidbits that she thinks I might be interested in. Which is great because unlike her there is no way I can find the time to read and raise three children and keep house. Mind you she does not have distractions like a blog or Facebook to rudely chew into her precious time.

Back to the point though.

One of the books that she raves on about most is this one

Healing Foods by Miriam Polunin can be found here
No that is not an affiliate link
I just thought I would be helpful to those interested in more info

While it is only listed on Amazon for a couple of bucks it is more than I am prepared to fork out in this super tight economic situation, only a few short weeks away from the highly anticipated #DPCON13.

Plus why buy it when I can just ask Bestie to check it out for me?

Inside this wondrous little book is information on fifty foods and the fantastic things that they can do for your health. There are also a bunch of yummy recipes to help inspire some new dishes to your table.

Sick of me always asking her to look something up Bestie has left her book with me for a few days so I can absorb some of the information within it's covers for myself. Being the kind and sharing gal that I am I thought I would also share that info with my lovely readers. Plus it means when I give the book back I will still have something to reference.

Mind you working out which bits were the most important to remember and write about was no easy feat. Even though there are only 160 pages in the book, there is a lot on each page. As such I have decided that I will do a bit of a series about it all. I can hear you all cheering from here.

The whole series thing will also give me a chance to schedule posts for while I am kicking my heals up at the afore mentioned #DPCON13. Have I mentioned how excited I am about it?

Make sure you pop back soon for the first instalment, around Thursday. Better yet head over to the side bar whip in your email address and then have each of my awesome posts sent straight to your in box.

Could life get any better or easier?

Joining Jess and the gang for IBOT

And of course feel free to share all over the place. Plenty of buttons below to help you out there

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?