Making Goals Monday - Wk 1

Now I have been meaning to join in this blog hop since I saw it start a few weeks ago but naturally as with so many things I want to do it got put on the back burner.

Well that was until now!

Despite having around a thousand other things I should be doing I am doing this first.  Actually I am doing this second as I have just finished this post here which kinda blends in with making goals.

Moving right along though.

My goals for this week are

1. Write at least 5 more posts
2. Exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times (will try and bump it to every day but don't want to set myself up for failure straight away)
3. Not waste hours and hours and hours on stupid mindless games that have no bearing whatsoever on real life

(deep exhale)

That will be all for this week as I also have the housework improvements that I set up with the Karlee so I don't want to overload myself all at once.

To see what other goals are being made head over to Accepting and Embracing Autism

 

Always Room For Improvement

Sometimes there is just more room than others.

I am forever preaching to the kidlets about being the best you that you can be and all that.  You know the 'it doesn't matter what the result is as long as you genuinely try your best'.  Only I guess at times this preaching could go in the do as I say not as I do basket.  Because let's face it there are many times during the day when I am far from my best or even come close to trying to be my best.

Take right now for instance.  I am supposed to be typing up a quick data base of contacts for the school.  I am meant to be meeting the principal in around twenty minutes to discuss said contact list and a whole range of other things that I am yet to actually do. Stuff that I should have done weeks if not months ago.  I am far from my best or even trying to reach my best right now.

Well sort of.

You see when I sat down at the computer (which was justified as where else could I type up a contact list) Facebook was already open and my eye couldn't help but notice one of my fav blogs had a new post up (click here to read it)  Naturally I like to read things hot off the press (so to speak) so I headed on over.  From there I just had to check out this which eventually brought me to here.  And now that I am here I am going to work on being a better me so that makes it all ok hey?

I was so inspired by these wonderful mothers, women and bloggers, putting themselves on the line that I just had to join in.

So this week I am going to concentrate on changing ... ... ... 

... ... ... no I am not waiting for a drum roll just trying to decide as there are so many to choose from.

Ok got it.

This week I am going to make a concerted effort to stay on top of the housework.  Nothing to major just a load of washing (excluding nappies) washed, folded and put away every day and no dirty dishes left in the sink.  Sounds easy enough doesn't it? 

To find out what others are working on this week check out The Mother Experiment, the wonderful host for this brilliant idea.  Play along, improve yourself and support others.

Have we really come to this?

I am sitting here in absolute disbelief.  Astounded at what I am listening to.

But first let me set the scene a little

As a rule we don't really watch a lot of television.  It is still more than I would really like them to watch but the convenience and time it provides me with is very hard to give up.  Though I am seriously reassessing that as we speak.

Despite the disaster zone that is our house hubs and I have elected for a slow lazy start to the morning with a designated joint start time to tackle the monstrosity of work that needs to be done.  Since I hustled the kidlets downstairs yesterday morning with little disturbance to him, enabling him to have an extra hour and bit of sleep, this morning was his turn to get up first.

DD3 woke up just before 7 (which I know I shouldn't complain about but 8 would have been nicer)  I knew there was no point feeding her as the reason for her waking was to do a wee. I lifted her up and over to hubs who was doing his very best to pretend he was still sleeping, and returned my head to my pillow to do the same.  DD2 was in the middle of all this just waiting for the signal to jump out of bed and start the day (don't you just love the enthusiasm of a five year old?)

Before I knew it DD2 was crawling back to me and snuggling up.  All was silent as I lay there wondering what would happen next.  Hubs was gently poking my back saying that the baby had gone back to sleep.  I could feel her limp body against my head but I just couldn't buy her actually being asleep.  At 16 months old she generally wakes dry but she can only hold it in for so long.  I was not going to risk moving to look at her face myself to see whether she really was sleeping or just snoozing so I trusted hubs is judgement and began to will myself back to sleep, still somewhat doubtful about the child next to me but hey if it looks like a stick...

The position that DD3 had selected to jam herself up against me in was far from comfortable but I was just going to have to deal with it.  After about five minutes my worst fears were realised and my sleep in destroyed.  DD3 was sitting up and chatting away.  Reluctantly I dragged myself out from underneath the covers and took DD3 to the toilet.  Which actually involves walking all the way down stairs.  At which point I realise that I am probably not going back to bed so I may as well say good morning to Sunday.

Once the toileting needs of both DD3 and myself are seen to I wander into the lounge room to investigate what everyone else is up to.  Not only is DD2 snuggled up on the bean bag watching the dreaded box but hubs is stretched out on the couch, eyes closed and looking more asleep than what I had even come close to.

Letting out a bit of a sigh I headed to the kitchen and popped the kettle on.

In a bid to put a bit of a positive spin to it all I decided that for many mother's 7.45 on a Sunday morning could very well be considered as a late sleep in. So with the washing machine filling up and fresh coffee in hand I sat down in front of the computer reading for some quality blogging time while I waited for it to be time to clean.

I was trying hard not to pay attention to the noise coming from the TV.  Recent weeks have seen my tolerance for the dreaded box decrease greatly.  I tried to console myself with the fact that at least it is the ABC channel, you know the one considered 'educational'.  The time honoured Sesame Street was playing.  Surely it can't be all that bad? Can it?

Oh yes.  Much worse than I have ever suspected actually.

As I sat there trying to think of something readable to write a little furry creature was dancing around telling me the importance of washing my hair.  Seriously.  

It's been one week...well nearly (actually not even close any more)

* this is one of those posts that I have started but never finished.  I am not sure why I refuse to delete.  I mean I am well aware of the fact that  that what you are about to read is not about to change the world in anyway.  And actually there is probably somewhere between little to no chance of even remotely affecting your life so what does it matter?


Well chances are that it probably matters very little now but then, when it was written it meant a lot.  Well enough at some time to get written anyway...

Seems like the middle of the week is my prime writing time of late.  I notice that it is one day off a week since I last wrote.  Bizarrely my last post focuses on the fact that it is a week since I last wrote.  Feels like a definite trend was trying to form there.

I have seen a few people commenting of late that they have been delayed with their commitments because life has got in the way.  I guess that is what has been happening to me.  I have been out living.  It can be rather hard and tiring at times.  

We have just come home from a long weekend away on a beachside retreat.   Three days of relaxation and bliss.  (Well apart from the bushfire scare but that is another post)  What really amazes though is that I come back and instantly feel drained and over powered

Back to now

Despite all the hard work that comes with returning from camping I am pretty sure I would almost go every weekend.  I love the nothingness of it all, yet you are always being busy.  It is so easy to stay clean and tidy as there is so little that needs doing.

(super deep sigh longing to get away again)

Being Grateful

Today is Saturday which means over at Maxabella loves it is time to share what we are grateful for.

Now I know that on Thursday I was thankful and perhaps there is little difference between the two but as far as I am concerned one can not be too thankful or grateful, especially when one is as blessed as what I am.

I am grateful to all the people who have stopped by to have a read lately.  I have noticed a bit of an increase in traffic and this really makes me grin.  I haven't bothered to take a look at the length of hits yet but the pure fact more people are even loading the page makes me want to write more.  My new motto is write and they will read 

I am grateful for the fact that I am not going to give up.  Not on this, not on my family or my commitments at the school.  Fingers crossed that I get to writing the posts regarding exactly what this is all about.

I am grateful for the fact that blogger automatically saves what I am writing.  I think that it is one of the best filing systems I have ever come across.  For years I have struggled to keep track of my writing as wonderfully as what blogger does.  Thanks to blogger's awesomeness I was able to have the below carefully put aside till I was ready to use it


Yep, that's right time again for the weekly link up with Shae's Things I Know

 and this week I am slightly torn on what it is I know.

(deep sigh)

I know that my heart goes out to all who have ever lost a baby.
I know I wonder how they go on after such an event and I admire the strength and courage it takes to deal with such tragedy.
I know that...


Unfortunately this post remains unfinished,  In fact it has actually been discarded now.  I am grateful to be blessed with my beautiful children.  I know that this almost really goes without saying but there are so many times during a day when I honestly think how lucky I am because of my girls and wonderful husband.

The blogs I was reading at the time of the post all seemed to be mums who had Angel Babies.  Which I think is a beautiful term.  One of the groomsmen at our wedding lost his first son two weeks before our wedding.  He was two weeks old, born at only 24 weeks.  It was a strange time as another very close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Seven years (and one week) on from that day I am grateful that on the whole those near and dear to us have come out stronger than ever before.  I am also more than grateful to still have the love of a wonderful man.  I can't even begin to imagine where I would be without him.

Anyway I could actually gone on forever about all the stuff I am grateful for but then you wouldn't get to read about all the other grateful people here.

xx Share the love with fairy wishes and butterfly kisses so that in every way this is a special day xx

Push: Adventure

I actually started writing this post at the start of the week.  Unfortunately I didn't quite get it finished (not overly surprising though) I did for a moment think of scrapping it and trying again but then tonight as I was flicking through Hello Owl I noticed a linking up possibility so here it is.

Living in a harsh country such as Australia I understand that Mother Nature can have a rather nasty side to her at times.  I might not always like it but at the end of the day that is the terror that comes with such exquisite beauty.  For the most part I am able to maintain a balance which allows me great beauty with little to no risk.

My last camping expedition however left the balance a little out of whack.

Given it was the last long weekend of the year, our bestest friends decided to join us on one last camping adventure.  Even though it is only an hour's drive away we like to be able to stay for two nights.  Packing up three kids is not exactly easy and a one nighter is not really worth the effort.

Due to DD1's hockey commitments and Hubs working we could not get away till a lot later than we really would have liked but still arrived with plenty of time to set up camp and have a play on the beach. as far as we were concerned from the moment we arrived all was well and we were without worry.

That was of course until about lunchtime the next day when the sky became black.

The bush land surrounding the beach had set alight and was racing towards us

 

As it turned out we were incredibly lucky and the fire did not come as near as what we thought it would.  Once the smoke died down we went back to having not a worry in the world.

Things I Know

With Friday been and gone (albeit just) it is time once again to link up with Shae over at

Yes, yes I know that the whole two button might be seen as a bit of overload but I just luv em!  




And yes, yes, I know I have mentioned before how impressed I am with having buttons to give to others but I think it is way cool and I wish that I could do it (For the record I worked out how to make a button but I can't work out how to get the code underneath for others to copy and paste)   

Ok so here is what I know this week

• Turns out I am really liking the whole linking up thing.  Not exactly the award winning writing that is going to make me famous but certainly a great way to pick up a bit of traffic.  Which is always lovely.   And inspires me to write more which could possibly be getting me closer to becoming famous.

• I am glad that I only heard about Blogopolis around two weeks before the actual event.  That tied to the distance I would have to travel meant I did not even have to contemplate the possibility of going.  This in turn made it easier to accept that for a thousand other reasons I probably wouldn't have gone anyway.

• Despite doubting whether I would actually have made it to Melbourne if I lived somewhat closer or discovered Blogopolis with time to arrange attending there is a rather large part of me that wishes I had of been there.  After all, all those awesome bloggers in attendance just had a wonderful learning and networking experience.

• Even though I know I am not the only blogger to have not gone to Melbourne last weekend it sure doesn't feel that way.

So what do you know? Play here

Thankful Thursday

So this is my first ever Thankful Thursday.  I am playing along with kate says stuff and let me just say I am pretty excited about it as well.  I had hoped to join in last week but as is so often the case with me, life got in the way.  

This week however I have temporarily put said life on hold and made time to be thankful :)  Those who know me well will know that this kind of thing is right up my alley.  I am always going on about all there is to be thankful for.  So while the baby sleeps and the washing machine quietly swirls away the dirt from our clothing (for which I am thankful for) I will share with you a somewhat different kind of thankful.

Now I know at times I have a tendency to give most of my thanks on an general or every day basis.  You know being thankful for family, loved ones and friends, which are all on par with being thankful for the roof over my head, food on my table and awesomeness of life in general.  With so much sadness and heartache in the world I can't help but feel truly blessed with my everyday life.  How could I not be when the food on my table at the moment is fresh prawns given to me by beautiful friends?  Today however I am thankful for much more than that.

Something that previously I have refused to be thankful for.  In fact I don't think I have ever even really entertained the thought of being thankful like this before.  

Today I am going to be thankful for something that I generally prefer to ignore.

Today I am thankful for the fact that my eldest child's biological father lives interstate with a beautiful and caring family.  I am thankful for the fact that he, as her biological father, has always tried his very best to stay in contact with her.  He has made sure that she has always known that he is there for her and she is a part of his family. 

I am also thankful for his beautiful partner who is one of the most caring and understanding people I have ever come across.  It is such a comfort to know that when not here with me DD1 is still in a loving and caring environment.

Life may not always be what you had hoped it would be but more often than not we choose the path we walk.

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.

Wordless Wednesday

Playing along over here

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.

Thanks for stopping by

Please click the box and vote for me

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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)

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.

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

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