About Me

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Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Mid 20s Stay at Home Mummy to Master A and Wife to DH, Michael. This blog will document my life as i try to become more sustainable, a fun mum and maybe even a domestic goddess- is there even such a thing?

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

SYL wk 9- Go easier on yourself

Simplify Your Life wk 9 challenge is all about being kinder to yourself. I love this as it is something Flylady constantly brings up,

"The voices that you hear in your head...We are going to quiet those negative voices that are beating you up constantly and replace them with a loving, gentle voice...Everything we do is going to help you replace those voices that put you down."

The mantra I love is




SYL wk 8- Happiness

Week 8 is all about Happiness, What makes you happy? What takes away from your happiness?


  1. Think about what makes you happy, and what are the hurdles that come between you and happiness.
  2. Create a happiness list,  or I have a Pick-Me Up Jar which I suppose is a happiness list in 3D. If you're having a mind blank a gratitude journal is a great way to focus on your happiness. every night jot down the things that day that you are grateful for, what made you happy and what went right. 
  3. Do one thing from your list a day

Monday, 28 May 2012

SYL wk 7- Create a vision board

This weeks challenge was to create a vision board for how you want 2012 to look like, I also added some longer term goals like my dream house and dream car.

I created mine by using images I found on Pinterest, then uploaded them to Oprah dreamboard you will need to sign up but it is free I can't wait to explore the website. I set my vision board as my computer backdrop and uploaded a private photo to my Facebook as I didn't want everyone seeing my photo, then saved it on my phone and used it as my screen saver on my iPhone, now its the first thing I see in the morning and usually the last thing I see when I go to bed, what a great way to keep my goals in focus!





SYL- wk 6 Setting Goals

This weeks challange was to Set Goals for the rest of 2012, perfect timing since half the year is nearly gone.

Health- Drink 2L/dy and walk 3x/wk

Try one new thing a month

Family- Board game, pizza and movie night once a week and pencil in date night with hubby once a month for dinner

Sustainability- Work on the garden and put chook pen up

Finance- Save $50/wk

Community- Find things to be involved in that include Master A, for instance the morning tea this week is at my house, so he can still be a part of it

I realised that all these goals are things I can put into my daily or weekly routine, feeling pretty good about that!

SYL wk 4- The Wheel Of Life

I have been a little slack in keeping up with Simplify Your Life Challenges but ready to jump back in.

This week I am on Week 4- Assessing Your Life Balance using the wheel of life

I feel as I've continued to blog and use my Facebook page to work through my home my areas have lifted somewhat, so yay! go me!

My 8 Categories are and how I rate them at the moment:

My marriage                                            4
my family (me, hubby and Master A)           3
my extended family                                    3
my friends                                                3
my home                                                  3
my health                                                 3
the community                                           2
creativity                                                  3

I'm pretty happy with how everything is balancing I would like to work on "community" a bit more. I've started by being a host for The Biggest Morning Tea to raise funds for the Cancer Council, which is exciting because so many people I know have been hurt from cancer, my grand father in law passed away last year and my step mother is fighting cancer since last year, they found out the day after Master A was born which is a little difficult it's not something you like to associate with the birth of a new family member.
And my health is another one I need to work on, I've been sick for most of the year, or recovering from being sick, nothing major just the coughs, sniffles or other annoying thing. I think its some sort of sickness payback for being sickness free when I was pregnant.




Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Trust your instincts

Trust your instincts, too often we push down that little voice inside of us or that feeling in our tummy. Today, I had one of those feelings.

Poor Ashton was busy screaming his little lungs out this morning and I was a little frazzled when Cleo started to growl and yap madly too, then I heard a lady out the front knocking, I answered the door to a lady asking if a Tracy Jones (names have been changed) lived here, I replied " no, sorry. I've lived here for three years". A little odd I thought someone asking for someone after so long. She apologised and left, but I saw her car and husband still in the driveway.

She came back 5-10 minutes later and asked to use my phone and that she had money to pay for using it, that she had been up the road to a neighbour who was this lady's relative and gotten this "Tracy's" phone number, she explained that she was a relative and was going to family reunion, my tummy felt a bit funny, Why hadn't you used this relatives phone? I thought. But replied over the top of Cleo yapping madly that, "sorry, my phone has been disconnected". She continued to explain that she had been travelling for two days and was desperate. I repeated that I was very sorry, but my phone was out of order again and she left.
I made sure the doors were dead bolted and thanked my lucky stars we had put security mesh on all our front windows and front door so no one could see in.

I feel a little guilty, so often we hear how no one is nice to any one these days, was I also one of these mean people now? What if my feeling was wrong? If my husband had just been home I would have let them use my phone on the front step. But then I hugged my son tight and remembered all those nice people that do the right thing and get taken advantage of. My poor little dog knows I'm nervous and keeps wanting to go outside to check the yard to make sure we're safe. It's funny how our pets know when we're upset :)

Have you ever trusted your instinct? Did it turn out to be right?

Mid Week Treat- Brownie Cake

Ingredients



  • 2 heaped cups of SR flour
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup mixed fruit and nuts



Method



  • Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
  • grease and line a loaf tin
  • sift together flour, spice and cinnamon
  • rub in butter and add sugar
  • mix with milk
  • add fruit and nuts 
  • pour into greased loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean