Diminishing Lucy

Lemon Melting Moments...

2012-01-27T20:50:00.000+10:30

The kids go back to school on Monday.

We have nothing much more planned for this last weekend of holidays aside from lawns and laundry.

I realise I have to deal with the lunchbox monster again as of Monday.

So I asked Olivia (who is just about to go into year three. How did THAT happen?!) which home made baked treaty thing she loved best.

Straight away she told me that she loves "Grannies chocolate crumble cake" best, but her second best favourite is "the crumbly round white biscuits squashed together with lemon icing stuff".

Ahhh, they'd be Lemon Melting Moments then...

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened

3/4 cup (115g) plain flour

1/4 cup (45g) icing sugar

1/3 cup (50g) custard powder (or cornflour)

Icing

60g butter, softened, extra

2/3 cup (110g) icing sugar

Juice and zest of one small lemon

Preheat oven to 160`c
Line 2 cookie trays/baking sheets with baking paper.
Use an electric mixer to beat butter until pale and creamy. Add the flour, icing sugar and custard powder (or cornflour) and then use a wooden spoon to stir to combine.
Using your hands, roll teaspoonful of the dough into balls. Place the balls 3cm apart on the lined trays.
Use a fork dusted in icing sugar to gently flatten. Bake in the preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 20 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
To make the icing, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the lemon rind and juice and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Spread the icing mixture over the flat side of half the biscuits and sandwich together with remaining biscuits.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Tell me, do you make homemade stuff for your kids lunchboxes? What is their best favourite?

PS I have linked, through this recipe, to a whole load of beautiful bakeware on Kitchenware Direct. I shall be linking to them ongoing for a few reasons. I have worked with them before, and the lovely people at Kitchenware Direct have been kind enough to sponsor my attendance to the upcoming Digital Parents Conference. As well as this, they are a brilliant online store for all my cooking requirements and I use them a lot!

Serendipitous!

2012-01-26T06:00:00.008+10:30

When I was drowning a sea of nappies and suffocating in the fog of mundane, caring for three little babies, I often wondered whether I would EVER be able to go back to work.

I used to be a career girl.

Then the three under three situation made it virtually impossible to return.

Something inside me told me that I was not ready to return. Would I ever be confident enough to return?

The three little people at my feet made it hard to even contemplate.

Occasionally, I would wistfully look at Seek to see if there were any part time roles that could fit in around the kids, and around childcare options. On one such search, back in about 2007, I also stumbled across the Career Mums website.

I felt inspired when I found that site. Other Mums, all with great skills, all in the same boat as me, making the choice to get back to work. A website that understood the need for flexibility. It felt hugely reassuring to realise that I was not the only mum dithering over choices.

As a result of the website, I managed to get inspired enough to apply and secure some part time work around the kids. Just for ten hours a week, but it was enough for my dormant skills to reawaken.

And It also got my creative juices flowing again, and so I also began to take my blogging and my social media interests a whole lot more seriously.

Through blogging and writing I have been lucky enough to get to know the talented Allison Tait, whose blog Life In a Pink Fibro was one of my early faves. I remember her blog when it's header was a ropey snap of the Fibro's roof line. And through strange coincidence, it turns out that Allison knows the lovely Kate Sykes, founder of the Career Mums site.

I find out that not only do they know one another, but they are working together on a book...a book called...Career Mums.

All of these facts collide at the same time that my youngest, Lexie, starts school.

Serendipitous indeed.

I ordered the book on pre-order and devoured it the minute I received it.

Simple but often overlooked advice is given succinctly. The book is brilliant at the business of confidence building.

The practical advice from experts is an eye opener. It made me realise that I had my own personal elevator pitch all wrong.

The book gave me a huge surge of hope to be honest. The "going back to work" thing, in my head, has become a huge issue.

I want to work in a role that utilises all of my skills, but I only want to work part time.
I want a job that matches my skill set, but my children come first these days.
I want a job that stimulates me, but I also want to be able to walk away at the end of the day and feel no pressure.
I want a job that pays well, but that also offers family friendly flexibility.

Before reading the book, the above statements were all more of a wish list. Fantasy land - not attainable, so I probably was put off before I even started.

But, now that I have absorbed the book and all it's sound advice, I feel really confident in being able to pitch to organisations for the kinds of roles I am after.

I have a meeting set up with a potential new boss next week - I shall let you know how I go!

In between times, if you'd like a copy of the Career Mums book, just go here.

I have a copy of the book to give away, so if you'd like to be in the running for to win this, all you need to do is leave me a comment, telling me your current career goal. (And if you'd like to nip over and "Like" Career Mums on Facebook, that'd be tops too!)

Diet Road Test Result!

2012-01-23T05:59:00.000+10:30

Last week saw me road test he My Special K personalised eating and exercise plan.

Cost: $0
How? Online.
Variety: Huge variety of foods. The My Special K site asks you to personalise your profile, which I did, and it gave me a weeks worth of menus (as well as a shopping list) which made life very easy. The kids and the lovely husband and I all ate off the menu and so all ate the same, which was great. This meant we deviated from our usual fare, which was great for all of us - I was nicely surprised at some of the really interesting meals that the kids happily ate. The foods and meal plans are low calorie, wholesome, non-processed choices. A wide variety of all foods.
Ease: Easy to stick to, easy to eat.
Did I have to eat nothing but Special K? Nope. Any wholegrain low fat low sugar cereal would do!
Exercise? Yes, daily. (I did two gym sessions and a swim and walked the other days.
Hunger levels/feelings of deprivation? None. I did fancy a glass of wine on Saturday night, so I had one. This is probably the only time I deviated.
Results: I lost 1.4kg (And yes, I am happy about that!) and 8cm all over.
Would I/Could I stick to it? Yes

So there you have it!

Smug...

2012-01-22T07:00:00.002+10:30

Don't you love it when you find a new item of clothing that is just PERFECT for everything.

I get a sensational feeling of utter smugness, knowing that a particular item looks good, feels comfy, and that it suits me and my many required "looks".

School drop off Mummy? Not too try hard, but neat and respectable? Check.
Studying Mummy? Cool, comfy and crease free? Yep.
Oh my goddess I have an appointment which I forgot about and have nothing ironed but need to look presentable? Superb.
Weekend dinner out at a nice ~~pub~~ restaurant? Crisp but relaxed? Can be dressed up with a little classy bling?
Office day today? Is it smart enough? With tailored pants, oh yes it is! Phew!

Above all else, despite losing a bit of weight, I still need all my clothing items to be FLATTERING.

Hence I am totally loved up with the range from Yummie

I have always been a fan of "shape wear" or "foundation" pieces - a close girlfriend of mine is a stylist and she swayed me this way a year or two back - no matter how much weight I lose, I still have lumps, bumps and crevices. A smooth silhouette is crucial, regardless of my size!

So when I read about Yummie, and how the control and shape is within the actual clothes, I was immediately intrigued - such a simple and obvious idea, but not something I have come across before.

Simple, comfortable, classic styles, all with the ability to smooth out my muffin tops and tyres? I am there.

The full range of lightweight, breathable, super soft wardrobe staples are designed to be worn by themselves (or under anything for a layered look.) Constructed with a patented dual fabric technology, the edge is derived from a firm control midsection panel which secretly smooths and shapes the midsection, camouflaging unwanted lumps and bumps. The genius behind Yummie is that it is a wardrobe essential and is the first shape wear that’s sexy, functional, comfortable and lovely to be seen. The innovative intimates, clothing and denims slim, smooth, and shape with unbelievable comfort, style and trend-setting designs.

If you would like to win one of the above Yummie tanks (Original, Strappy or Invisible Skinny), all you need to do is this:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure - I was sent a Yummie tank, for free, to try. I love it. Hence I am happy to review the product and offer my readers a chance to win some Yummie clothes. If I didn't love it, you would not be reading about it. I have since ordered a stack more Yummie items.

Who's the boss?

2012-01-20T15:19:00.000+10:30

I am not a big fan of soft drinks, but on the odd occasion, I can be tempted by a can of icy cold fizzy pop.

The hard stuff for me - if I ever do indulge, I like full strength - none of the diet kind with the fake sugar - give me the real deal!

And I was amused the other day to realise that the can I grabbed from the servo fridge all had names on.

(I ducked into the servo whilst leaving my kids in the car ~~in the sun~~ like the perfect mother I am not - but I would rather stab myself in the eye than take them all into the shop to pay for petrol and have them nag me to death for ice cream and lollies....)

Anyway, here is the name I was lucky enough to see on my can -

I love this so much that I am keeping the can to recycle it as a pen pot on my desk.

The kids think this is very funny - that Coke made a can specially for ME, because I AM the boss.

The lovely husband was mildly amused by it, and of course questioned the kids. "Is Mummy the boss? I thought I was the boss?"

Charlie cocked his head to one side and said, kindly, but with a little bit of uncertainty - "You can be the boss, if you want Dad?"

Olivia looked very worried by this stage. "But Dad, you do know that Mummy really is the real boss? Maybe you should just be the boss of the garden?"

To which Lexie added - "You can be the boss at the weekends Dad. If you want? Then Mum is always here to make sure you are doing it right?"

My children know the score, evidently. They understand the hierarchy!

How about you? Who is the boss at your place?

I have a plan...

2012-01-19T06:01:00.002+10:30

One of the plans I have committed to this year (one of many, I should add. I suspect I am being a little ambitious!) is to meal plan properly.

Last year was my year of "online grocery shopping" which I am still truly in lust with. I've been faithful to it.

I want to add to the satisfaction of online shopping by meal planning properly in the first place, so that my groceries are a little more organised and so that my food dollar goes further and so that we all, as a family, try more new dishes.

That snap you see up top there? That's Olivia, at the Australian War Memorial this summer where she came upon the Allied Works Council Cooking Guide - from the 1940's - a guide to feeding Australian forces with economy and flavour...

I read the guide with Olivia - perched on a an old bench in the discovery zone of the museum. It was a delight to read and I was transported back to a time when homemade was the only way and everything from scratch with no preservatives was the norm.

Whilst I won't be serving up chops for breakfast, the book really reminded me of how very satisfying it is to cook and eat from weekly plan. How sensible it is to create meals that in turn create additional meals for the following week. It is an economy of time and energy as well as produce.

The guide reminded me of how my Granny used to cook. Plain fare, fresh food and plenty of it. My Mother taught me too, to cook with flair. My aim is to combine the two - via a meal plan....which I probably share via my blog.

I have not started yet - but I do have a idea to scribble down meal ideas of the back of envelope. I have spent time previously being inspired by this post too.

Tell me, do you menu plan? How? What works? If not, why not? Tell me all!

Ten things I know...

2012-01-17T20:33:00.000+10:30

Lissy, aged 19

I am in a very very busy place over the next few days/weeks.

I shall go into more detail later...when I get chance to breath.

In between times, a list - a list of ten things I know, today.

1. My Mother was once very beautiful. Today she is sick sick sick.
2. My children are amazing. Their tolerance and acceptance and resilience over circumstance is phenomenal.
3. I shall never ever smoke again as long as I live. Nor will I ever get addicted to alcohol.
4. Some shit is so hard to deal with you need to obliterate it with boiling water. Literally. Seriously.
5. The Aged Care Assessment Team here in Australia are underpaid and undervalued and overworked.
6. My solicitor (who is also my Mum's solicitor) is worth his weight in gold. He is the calmest and most gentle of gentlemen.
7. My lovely husband supports me, and strokes my head as I fall asleep, and I am so grateful for him.
8. You can play a lot of Plants and Zombies on your iPhone when waiting around hospitals.
9. It is fucking hot today in Adelaide - 36`c and overcast. I'd like a storm please
10. I have really really great friends - Sue, Dave, Kat, Mike, Paul, Emmy, Tammy, Chad...without you, I could not deal with practicalities around my fragile mother. That you treat my kids and dogs as your own makes me feel safe. Thank you.

My Mum is even sicker. How is that possible? She is made of strong genes. She hangs on. I didn't think it could get worse, but it has. I just hope for comfort. For her, and selfishly for me too.

She is hospitalised, and unlikely to return home. I am not sure if I am relived or sad. She is wasting away, and it is such a futile waste.

It is a complex thing, when a child becomes the parent. I feel I have parenting her and her habits, for a great many years. The guilt is immense. I am not sure why I feel guilty? Because I feel resentment too? There is a lot of frustration and the premature grief over what could have been. And the sadness.

But I do know she was amazing, in her day. Those are the memories I need to maintain.

If your mother is healthy and well, know that she is to be treasured?

Keep Calm...

2012-01-16T06:00:00.002+10:30

Back to reality today. I am ashamed to to admit that I have been as slack as with my usual healthy eating during my holiday - a road trip is so not conducive to a diet. Would anyone like some hot chips with their chips? I feel quite revolting to be honest - fat. But, relieved to be back in a place (mentally and literally) where I can implement my own momentum, my own motivation, my own routines, my own grocery shopping and my own cooking. One of the (many) keys to my ability and willingness to maintain a healthy eating plan is organisation - which is a whole lot easier at home rather than that from the front seat of the Captivator...

So, today sees me:

1. Weigh myself for the first time in months (eeek!)

2. Start back at the gym

3. Follow week 1 of My Special K personalised diet plan (Next week I shall report my thoughts and results)

4. Engage in a whole stack of weight loss hypnotherapy and some early nights!

Can you tell I love a Monday and a new start?!

What does this new week bring you?

Tell me what you want...

2012-01-15T11:44:00.000+10:30

We are back.

As always, one of the loveliest things about being away is coming home.

Back home, back to work, back to routine, back to blogging, back to writing, back to the gym, back to life. (And if truth be known, back to a mountain of laundry!)

We have had a brilliant holiday away - the time we spent in Sydney was spectacular, with hot sunny weather, and the kids had days and days of beach and sun and cousins and fun.

We are all rested and very happy. Our pace slowed properly and the lovely husband and I feel very much topped up and re-charged.

And whilst I have truly enjoyed my bloggy holiday, I have really missed the sense of community and I have missed the interactions. I have missed YOU! I have missed the purpose that blogging gives me.

This year I will be posting about my personal diet road tests, some domestic goddessness, some foodie temptations, and a little family stuff.

Tell me, what do you want to read here on Diminishing Lucy? Tell me which kind of posts you like best from me?

New Year - Diet Road Testing!

2012-01-01T07:00:00.004+10:30

As most of you know, losing weight and gaining health and fitness is an issue that is very close to my heart.

I started my 40kg weight loss journey as a New Years resolution a couple of years ago. And I have kept the weight off.

I am still a sturdy girl, and still have a fair bit of weight to lose. But I am healthier and fitter and happier than I have ever been. Making the choice to lose weight was one of the best things I have ever done for myself.

But I am, like a zillion other women, going to set a goal to lose more weight this New Year.

But did you know that there is, on average, half a billion dollars wasted on New Year weight resolutions?!

Australian women are blowing this staggering amount of cash trying to get into shape at the start of each year and many never get anywhere near their goals. Such a shame, such a waste of energy and effort and money.

I am very clear that I do not really endorse any particular diet plan. But I am a strong advocate of finding a healthy way to eat that helps you lose weight, and then sticking to it. Find a plan that works for you and stick to it.

There is a new Galaxy study, released last week, by My Special K that shows Australian women have every
best intention for their eating and exercise habits when it comes to New Year’s resolutions and they’re certainly prepared to splash the cash, but only 10 per cent ever see the benefit.

In fact, 43 per cent of women investing in their shape said they saw no benefit from the money spent and a
further 33 per cent said they only saw a short term benefit but nothing that lasted.

In 2011, almost half (49 per cent) of Australian women made New Year’s resolutions to manage their
weight and health better. Seven per cent gave up in the first week of January.

My Special K is a new website hosting a completely free, personalised eating and exercise plans. As a part of it's inception, the research team at Kellogg surveyed Australian women between the ages of 18 and 59 to uncover their New Year’s Resolution habits and subsequent spending habits on weight management plans.

The new My Special K site goes live on Boxing Day, providing free, personalised exercise and eating plans, and also motivational support from former Olympian, Hayley Lewis, who has co-created the exercise elements of the plans.

When asked what was needed to maintain their New Year’s resolutions, Australian women said the right
foods, a great exercise plan, and feeling motivated (47 per cent) were all key. I personally would agree totally. If you know how to eat well and commit to regular exercise, and take time to get your head right, you will lose weight. The My Special K site gives you all that for free.

It's designed well because it gives you your personalised meal and exercise plans for the
weeks ahead and focus in on a long-term lifestyle change rather than a quick fix. You can set up your
personalised plan at the click of a button…and it’s all completely free.

All of the plans on myspecialk.com.au have been developed in conjunction with expert nutritionists,
dietitians and fitness experts to harness the latest in scientific thinking and bring users cutting edge advice
about weight management.

As well as the plans, the site features expert advice on all aspects of weight management, easy recipes, an
eating out guide, plus handy tools such as a BMI calculator and exercise tracker.

I will be road testing the My Special K personalised plans - I am registered already - as soon as I get back from holidays, I shall report in! Anyone joining me?

PS This is not a sponsored post. I just like that Kellogg seem to "get" that weight loss should not cost $$, and are as such they are providing a brilliant free service to anyone who wants to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable fashion.

Lose weight for free...

2011-12-26T07:00:00.001+10:30

There is a new Galaxy study, released today, by My Special K that shows Australian women have every
best intention for their eating and exercise habits when it comes to New Year’s resolutions and they’re certainly prepared to splash the cash, but only 10 per cent ever see the benefit.

In fact, 43 per cent of women investing in their shape said they saw no benefit from the money spent and a
further 33 per cent said they only saw a short term benefit but nothing that lasted.

In 2011, almost half (49 per cent) of Australian women made New Year’s resolutions to manage their
weight and health better. Seven per cent gave up in the first week of January.

My Special K is a new website hosting a completely free, personalised eating and exercise plans. As a part of it's inception, the research team at Kellogg surveyed Australian women between the ages of 18 and 59 to uncover their New Year’s Resolution habits and subsequent spending habits on weight management plans.

The new My Special K site goes live on Boxing Day (today!) providing free,personalised exercise and eating plans, and also motivational support from former Olympian, Hayley Lewis, who has co-created the exercise elements of the plans.

When asked what was needed to maintain their New Year’s resolutions, Australian women said the right
foods, a great exercise plan, and feeling motivated (47 per cent) were all key. I personally would agree totally. If you know how to eat well and commit to regular exercise, and take time to get your head right, you will lose weight. The My Special K site gives you all that for free.

I will be road testing the My Special K personalised plans - I am registered already - as soon as I get back from holidays, I shall report in! Anyone joining me?

Out of office (and a Thank You...)

2011-12-23T16:04:00.000+10:30

My deadlines have all been met in relation too school, work, and Christmas preparations.

I have a few posts scheduled for over the Christmas period - random ones, here and there, that you might find interesting. Apart from that, we are heading to the beach.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and safe Christmas.

I've had a brilliant year of blogging and writing.

This has largely been due to my loyal and lovely and engaged and engaging readers - and I appreciate each and every one of you, so thank you, and Happy Christmas.

I shall be back in the New Year sometime...

xxx

Just keep swimming...

2011-12-21T23:09:00.000+10:30

It seems that there are all sorts of dramas going on on the internet at the moment.I am largely oblivious.
Dare I say it, I do not want to expend valuable energy on my computer screen. I'd rather spend the energy on my real world.

I am working, writing, and organising a family Christmas. I choose to be involved, truly involved, in these (perhaps superficial?) activities, preferring such simple pleasures to drama.

I have been writing Christmas cards, listening to cheesy Christmas pop songs, taking the kids to Swim and Survive lessons at the local pool, sunbathing and eating hot chips.

I have written about my love of the local pool before. We are spending all this week at the pool. Best plan ever to ensure tired but blissfully happy and sun soaked children. Lexie's hair turns blonder by the day, Olivia's freckles spread adorably across her nose, and Charlie swam 50m unassisted today and I have never seen him more proud of himself. We have played mermaids and sharks and a lot of floating like star fish and had some very very happy days, with more to come. (And more hot chips and icy poles too...)

This evening the lovely husband and I indulged in a little Christmas cheer in the form of some strong English cider whilst we wrapped Christmas pressies, all ready.

I am panicking over the size of the turkey that we need to cook, and the fact that we go on holidays the day after Boxing days o what will we do with the leftovers.

And the kids? The biggest thing they worry about? Bubble bubble breath and the colour of their swim goggles. There is wisdom in their youth.

That is all.

Hope you and yours are having a good start to Christmas?

Road Trip Fodder (Banana Chop Chip Cereal Muffins...)

2011-12-19T17:00:00.000+10:30

We head off on a road trip soon. This gives me a need to reduce pantry stocks, AND plan yummy road trip car snacks.

This recipe uses up all of the bits from the bottom of the cereal boxes - all the crumbs that the kids won't normally eat!

And now that bananas have dropped back down in price, I can use them abundantly in baking again!

I am made these muffins this morning, and stashed a heap in the freezer straight away (they freeze well) so that they are as fresh as a daisy when I take them out the night before we get in the car to travel east.

The rest got eaten for morning tea at the pool. The kids are in a Swim Survive program this week, that is, apparently, hungry work...

Banana, Chocolate and Cereal Muffins

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas
2 cups Bran flakes or All Bran or Guardian (or whatever cereal you're trying to use up!)
1½ cups skim milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons light olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180`c
2. Grease a 12-hole muffin pan. (Or use muffin papers or large cup cake papers - this is easier for lunch boxes and travelling.)
3. Mash the bananas in a bowl, then crumble in the cereal and stir in the milk and the vanilla essence.
4. Set aside for 10 minutes.
5. Then beat together the eggs and light olive oil, then add to the banana mixture.
6. Combine flour and sugar in a large bowl and add wet ingredients and choc chips.
7. Stir until just combined, then spoon into the muffin pan and bake for 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into
the centre comes out clean.
8. Cool on a wire rack, and eat warm from the oven or freeze. (I let them cool, then put them into a container, unwrapped, with a lid, and freeze them in the container.)

Tell me your favourite road trip food?

End of term - and not a day too soon...

2011-12-16T20:19:00.000+10:30

This is what the end of term looks like...

This is going to be a short, sharp and shiny post. (I am absolutely bloody exhausted.)

The kids are knackered too. So much so, that this week has been spend in multiple meltdown tantrums from Lexie. She has just come to the end of her first term in reception. She is overwhelmed with tiredness and does not cope well. She was so buggered this afternoon that she ran into a tree. I know it possibly looks like I have beaten her - and whilst I threaten this all the time, I did not actually punch her - it was the tree.

Olivia sobbed her heart out at the fact that she must move on next year from one favourite teacher, to a new classroom, a new class and a new teacher.

Charlie is devastated that he will miss his mates for the next six weeks.

The cake stall is done and dusted and we raised a small fortune. Result. Mission accomplished. I was even given a little certificate of appreciation - very spesh!

We've received end of year reports - I could not be more proud.

We managed to get to the end of another term without getting a does of nits. 11 terms down, 32 terms to go.

It's the end of term, and I am grateful for that.

Relieved and grateful that we are DONE with school until February.

Relieved and grateful that they all had such a happy year.

Grateful for their little school and the lovely teachers and grateful to all the other parents that give of themselves and their time.

Grateful not to have to do any school runs next week.

Grateful for my vino.

Grateful for my beckoning bed.

Happy weekend everyone...

5 ways to nurture yourself with a busy schedule...

2011-12-15T06:00:00.003+10:30

Today I have Naomi from Seven Cherubs guest posting for me. I have no idea where she finds the time to blog, let alone draft up guest posts for me, around her seven children, but I thank her anyway, for a really great post on nurturing...

As a mother to seven children and a slightly addicted blogger who loves to write every day, I often find it a struggle to find any time for myself in my busy schedule. Although most of my days are filled with a variety of activities and household duties, I believe it is important to create the time to nurture yourself as a woman and as a mother.

Here are 5 ways that I nurture myself:

1. Plan your personal time out.

So often as women we put the needs of others first and forget about ourselves. We are just as important in the priority of our families and need to plan some time out for ourselves as well. On Sunday night I like to look at my week ahead and plan at least a couple of time out moments for myself during that week. They do not have to be large blocks of time, even 30 minutes of relaxation or rest helps me to feel nurtured for that day.

2. Give yourself breathing space

Nurturing is all about helping to create an environment of personal growth and to help care for something or someone. As women I believe we place unnecessary pressure upon ourselves to run a million miles an hour all of the time. Giving ourselves some breathing space helps us to clear our minds, to asses our personal care levels and to know if we need to focus on a specific area of our life such as diet/exercise/sleep etc. For me some quiet time in the morning helps me to know where I need to make some changes.

3. Know what you need

One of the keys for me in knowing how to help nurture myself is to be in-tune with my feelings and to know what I need. As I run around during my day which can range from doing the laundry, to the food shopping to writing a blog post, I make sure I stay connected to myself and how I feel. When I am able to snatch a moment to take some time out I can easily know what I need as I am aware of how I feel. Often what I need is simply a rest, sometimes an escape by reading a book and sometimes just a chat on the phone with a friend.

4. Involve your children

If you are a mother and have young children do not be afraid to involve your children in your nurturing moment. Teach them to care for you as a mother as you would care for them.. A small game I taught each of my children when they were young was the ‘sleeping game’. In this game my children would run off to a bedroom and get a pillow and a blanket just for Mum. I would lay down on the couch or even on the ground and they were to take care of me. They would put the pillow under my head. Lay the blanket on me and then give me a little massage on my back. This was all done whilst they had to be very quiet and you could only whisper if you needed to talk. It always amazed me how loving my children could be back to me and often this was the only break I would get during the day.

5. Write a nurture list

When my children were very little I often struggled to find time to nurture myself. When I could snatch a moment to myself I was often too tired to even think of what to do to help myself feel better. So I sat down one day and created a list. A short list of ideas of what I loved to do and what activities I could fit in around my busy schedule. It included taking a bubble bath, taking a short walk down my street, reading one chapter of a book, painting my toenails and sometimes simply putting on a clean t-shirt! I found having a quick reference helpful.

Do you take the time to nurture yourself? How?

About Naomi:
Naomi is a blogger, writer, chocolate lover, kitchen dancer, jewellery addict, commuter bus driver, happiness seeker, home decorator and motherhood advocate. She blogs at www.sevencherubs.com and recently wrote her first ebook, Pockets of Happiness. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Are we there yet?

2011-12-14T05:56:00.000+10:30

If I can just get through the next ~~fortnight~~ 10 days of Christmas concerts, cake stalls, work Christmas parties (of which there are several...just call me corporate bloody wife of the year...) I'll be out the other side.

If I can just hold on for a while longer, I get to the really good bit of Christmas.

The road trip. Her horizons are beckoning. I cannot wait.

Are we there yet?

Don’t motivate – DEDICATE!

2011-12-13T06:00:00.039+10:30

Today's guest post comes from Rhianon, who is a blogger I have know for ages, both in the blogesphere and in the realm of parenting forums. She is a uni student, carer, housekeeper and busy mother of a 4yr old boy and a 7 month old gir,l just trying to slim down, tone up and generally feel good about herself. Find her at Scone On Diet, and on https://twitter.com/#!/sconeonamission .

Recently, I’ve made the effort to really step up my exercise regime, by adding an extra class to my week, becasue what I was doing at the gym is not paying off.

I, after seeing some photos taken on a weekend camping trip, decided to bite the bullet and get a Personal Trainer. While this is another dent in the budget, some days, finding the motivation to step out my front door is hard.

During my meeting and assessment with the personal trainer, I realised this is really going to be really hard work. I love going to classes, as I can be up the back where no one can see me trying my hardest but can’t judge me on technique. With a personal trainer, I am all he sees. ALL of me. Big legs, big butt, jelly belly wobbling. He will be correcting me, making sure I do everything properly as to not injure myself. However, one of the bad things (other than my self conscious panicking about what he’s thinking while he watches the wobble) is that by doing it right – it’s going to hurt more.

Not motivating.

After speaking to a friend who had a baby at the same time as me (nearly eight months ago!) and seeing her fantastic transformation – she’s lost 15 kg in about 6 months! – she has instilled in me a new philosophy. Continue my gym classes and see my personal trainer, but don’t just motivate yourself to weight loss: Dedicate yourself.

Motivation is about psyching yourself up to do something you don’t necessarily want to do, where dedication is committing yourself to a worthwhile cause – YOU! Your ultimate goal is to be the very best you you can be. It’s not a hard task, or something you’ll just get around to. It’s your goal. Wouldn’t you rather be who you want to be sooner, rather than plod along slightly outside your comfort zone?

So. Don’t motivate – dedicate yourself to your weight loss / fitness challenge, and see your change sooner!

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Chips and Christmas...

2011-12-12T20:30:00.002+10:30

One of the many things I love about Australia at Christmas is the tradition of carols in the park.

A summers evening, nearly at the end of term, nothing else planned - so we hopped in the car to our local council presentation of carols by candlelight.

The best bits -

We did not have to arrive four hours early to score a park just directly next to the entrance, nor did not have to park a four hour walk away from the park
There was a free sausage sizzle and free coffee and free hot chocolate
There were dinky little fake flame torches for the kids (more stuff for free) - to save me getting all in a panic over burns from dripping wax
There was a top notch kids entertainment act as a warm up act to the carols. Interactive panto-esque audience participation. Let us knacker these children out before we get to the peaceful carolling.
The MC blokey was an absolute professional - great singing voice, generous with his jokes, good with kids.
Santa - he was a lovely old gent - I tend to be a little wary of the creepy looking skinny Santas with ill- fitting red coats and ill fitting beards - this one was very cuddly and trad. And the kids had a right old chinwag with him as they kept their eyes on the lolly bag loot. (Also free. I am beginning to suspect I know why we pay so much in council rates...it all goes to fund shindigs like the carols by candlelight!)
The lovely ladies and gents of the St Johns were all out in force - and their services were not required all night. Phew.
The local council helpers did a sterling job on corralling all the oldies with chairs up to the back and herding all the families with kids and picnic rugs to the front - no whinging.
No smoking allowed - apart from one feral, who Charlie told off. That's my boy!
The carols by candlelight was held at a local lacrosse club. Sports club. Club. Club bar. Club bar prices. The lovely husband was a happy man, paying only $3 for the odd bottle of Coopers Pale Ale.
The Australian Girls Choir - all decked out in hot pink choir outfits - sensational singing!
The brass band. Can I admit, quietly here (and I may need to blog about this in more depth at a later time) that brass band music brings me to instant happy tears? Totally overcome, ever single time. The lovely husband looked sideways at me the minute they started, and smiled as he passed me a tissue. I love him nearly as much as I love brass bands.
Carols. Christmas carols. With a songbook and everything. It was just lovely.

The very best bit? A picnic. I packed a picnic. Hard boiled egg sandwiches, cheese, fresh strawberries and fresh gingerbread. And chippies! Oh, how I adore me a big bag of chippies!

I scoffed a whole bag of Ajitas Vege Deli Rice Chips. They are bloody lovely. (I was sent some to try. I had been resisting temptation. At 80% less fat than normal chippies, I have no doubt they will become a regular treat.) They are TOO nice. The kids also really liked them. Which is a bit annoying - I eat chippies so rarely that I am selfish in wanting them all to myself!

Anyway, as I leaned back on the picnic rug with my beer and my chips, crying happy tears at the brass band, not fretting about the kids burning themselves, I felt supremely content. It seems Christmas is a state of mind, rather than a date. Who knew?!

If you'd like to try the Ajitas Vege Deli Rice Chips, just make sure you are following my blog and leave me a comment and tell me where you'd like to take your picnic rug? I have a months supply of these divine chippies to give away. So leave me a comment and I will use Random.Org to pick a winner this time next week. (Open to Australian residents only.)

Tell me your favoured picnic spot? And do you do carols by candlelight?

Online Competitions

Christmas past, Christmas present...

2011-12-09T20:38:00.000+10:30

Gratuitous shot of my tomatoes...

I'm from the UK, and in December's past I would be skating on black ice right about now, at this time of year. Hunting down Brussel Spouts and Satsumas for Christmas. Dragging real trees onto the roof rack and shopping in the sleet and cold and dark.

In December in England it is, quite literally, dark at 3.30pm. Vile.

I spent 25 Christmas days in England, and it never once snowed. I never once "enjoyed" the heralded "White Christmas". (Nor did I have to endure travelling in treacherous blizzards. A white Christmas, or indeed snow of any description, was never as romantic as it sounds...it turns grey, dirty and inconvenient before you can even find your mittens.)

I once had the rare treat of Christmas "off work". I worked in restaurants, and Christmas was, obviously, an intensely busy time of year. I had one singular Christmas Day off in a decade. I knocked off at around 9pm on Christmas Eve, and drove, excitedly, home for Christmas. This song would most certainly have been on my the mix tape I had playing in my car. Along with the heater, full blast.

Sounds all glistening and festive, doesn't it?

Try it in fog so thick that you literally cannot see beyond the bonnet of your red Festiva. Oh, joy of the season! Not! My shoulders so crunched up from leaning forward that I ached; my knuckles white with gripping the steering wheel in concentration.

Add the desperate need for the toilet into the mix - a 5 hour drive in dense fog? But I dared not pull off the motorway for fear that I actually would never be able to find my way back to the road and would spend my Christmas day in a servo with a whole load of other fog bound strangers. Or worse, alone with the servo attendant.

So, today, as I shopped for fresh raspberries and huge local strawberries, in my shorts and sunnies, I realised how bloody grateful I am for the fact that I live in Australia.

I am grateful for hot days and fresh fruit and the fact that I have ripe tomatoes in my garden before Christmas.

I am grateful that I do not have to work over Christmas, nor do I have to do any ridiculous late night drives through fog to be with my family.

I'm just a grateful kind of girl tonight...

Linking up with Maxabella, as I do...

The Lost and Found of Pregancy Weight...

2011-12-08T06:00:00.001+10:30

Today's guest post comes from Zoey, from Good Googs. I have met Zoey a couple of times now. She is a star. And her blog is gorgeous. And I thank her for sharing here.

I hated being pregnant, both times. I love babies. I could just soak up in the baby stage for years and be quite happy and content there. But I hate being pregnant. And I more than ate for two during both pregnancies, I comfort ate. And I can't really say I regret it. Because whatever got me from the beginning of that pregnancy to the end of it was worth it. And I'm planning to be pregnant again so I'll probably go through the whole thing again.

When Piper was born she was 2.8kgs and I'd put on about 20kgs and that's not counting the 10kgs of stress eating I'd put on while trying to conceive. None of that matters of course. I would have put on a tonne if it meant I got her at the end of it. She was worth every gram I put on, every pregnancy discomfort, months and months of unrelenting heartburnx and nausea that rendered me incapable of anything beyond the fetal position.

I'll admit that I was spoiled with Riley. I lost all my pregnancy weight plus 10 more kilos just by breastfeeding. And I didn't have to do anything, it just fell off. And then Piper came along and she wasn't a comfort feeder like Riley and I lost approximately zero weight. I was devastated. Breastfeeding was my kind of weight loss regime.

So all of a sudden I had to find another way to lose the weight. And as I'm still breastfeeding, I didn't really want to heavily cut back on what I was eating either, which left me one option - the gym. The 24 hour gym actually. Because that allowed me to sneak off when Piper was sleeping, work out and be back before she needed another breastfeed.

In my pre-child days I enjoyed the challenge of the run. I used to run about 8kms every morning in an hour. And that was when I still smoked a packet of cigarettes. So to start with that was my goal. Not the cigarettes part. I am a very happy non-smoker now. But the 8kms in an hour part. I started with all that I could handle which was about 400 metres of running followed by about 100 metres of walking and I did that for an hour.

I made myself increase the running by about 50 metres each time I went and soon I was doing about 1 km of running to 100 metres of walking and it was at that point that I thought I'm not really pushing myself here. I must have had a good night sleep because I decided to go for 2.5kms without stopping which meant only having two walking breaks in the hour. And although I had that moment after about 30 minutes where I thought 'there is no way I can do this', somehow I pushed through. And then a week later, I decided to go for only one walking break and the week after that I did my 8kms without a break.

Since then I increase the speed every time I go. My new goal is to be able to run at 10km/h for the hour. And now I'm about 4 kgs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I still have more to lose after that to get back to a weight that I'm comfortable with. Where I feel comfortable in my skin, but slowly I can see the shape of my body returning.

And I still eat pizza, cupcakes and have indulgent coffee-type drinks every week. That is a key part of my lifestyle and I don't see that changing anytime soon. But running is also part of my lifestyle now too. Something that I'm proud of. Running helps me to love my body. Every time I finish a workout I'm somewhat surprised that my body could do it, especially with my mind telling my body that it can't half of the time.

I did a pregnancy test today because I've been having some weird symptoms. And when it was negative I felt a twinge of sadness. I don't want to be pregnant right now (give me another year and I will!) I want to be able to go to New York next year with my husband next year, without the kids and most definitely not be pregnant. But I think after having my two babies there is nothing abstract about being pregnant and not being pregnant so even though I was relieved there was sorrow there as well. But when I am pregnant in a year or so I will be so happy that this baby will get a kick-ass place to grow and thrive. Because running gave me more strength than I thought it ever could.

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Zoey is the mother of one preschooler (the googy) and one baby (the squishy). In her former life she bought lots of handbags and wore a vast array of high heels. She also did lots of things alone - she went to the movies alone, ate alone and even enjoyed having a quiet drink alone. Now she does nothing alone. She lives in regional Australia and loves it, but still misses her shoes. Zoey is a reformed perfectionist, writer, parent adventurer, chaos manager, tiny dictator lover, baby snuggler, photographer and social media addict. She blogs in words and pictures at Good Googs. You can find her on Twitter and on Facebook.

What gives?

2011-12-07T22:00:00.000+10:30

Image from here

I need to mainline coffee

I am exercising every day - just. It is SO tempting to not bother, just to regain an hour.

I have not vacummed or mopped for a fortnight. The house is gross.

I cannot remember when I changed the bed sheets. That makes me cringe.

Thank goddess it's the end of term, so I feel no guilt when I encourage the skips to skip their homework

I cannot remember the last time I sat with a glass of wine and made eyes at my lovely husband

Our freezer is nearly empty of real food.

I have a to do list that covers two A4 pages.

I have work deadlines, assigmments due, cakes to bake, children to cuddle, tomatoes to be watered - and I am not sure I am going to get any of it done very well at all.

I bought new t-shirts today as I have no clean ironed ones

I am nearly forgot to blog today

I know it's not just me.

I know we are all frantic at this time of year.

What gives with you?

Michelle arms...

2011-12-06T06:00:00.002+10:30

Today I have Sarah from Ah the Possibilities guest posting for me. Sarah is my friend, and despite being amazingly busy, she always steps into help me out with a lovely guest post whenever I am snowed under. So I thank her; and give you her post - which I know you'll all enjoy!

Do you remember when Barack Obama bounced into our consciousness and everyone was caught up in this amazing, charismatic man? Not me. Nope. Even I who am known as a political junkie was distracted by something far more interesting.

His wife’s AMAZING arms.

Frankly, Michelle Obama has some of the hottest looking arms I have ever seen. Except for possibly Michelle Bridges which are also pretty spanking fantastic. Now right now I am in the throes of the Michelle Bridges 12WBT programme and exercise is one of its key features.

And I am here to share something with you. Those arms Michelle Obama has? The awesome ones that look great in every outfit? Well girlfriend works her butt off to have them. How do I know this?

Because one of the things I wanted to work on during this programme was my arms. After twenty years of hunching over and hiding my broad shoulders after a bitchy school mate told me my shoulders were “too wide” I got over my fear. Those shoulders made me a champion swimmer. They’ve nestled and soothed lots of children. They’re actually pretty awesome, and I’ve learned that I can’t let the negativity of others hold me back from achieving my goal or working towards being the best version of me I can. So this summer I am going to showcase said shoulders and arms.

I have been working out on my whole body. I don’t think spot training works, but I do think upping the ante on a certain area can help to improve it, if it is done in conjunction with an overall fitness focus.

But in order to do so I have had to work on getting them toned and taut. And trust me when I say it is A LOT of work. Lots of weights, reps and “I don’t want to.” But the results are starting to show and this summer I will rock the frock. The sleeveless frock ;)

What area are you working on for summer?

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Sarah writes a lovely blog over at Ah, the Possibilities. If you don't already follow her, you should. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Help!

2011-12-05T06:12:00.001+10:30

I need a million new ideas.

It's Christmas Concert Cake Stall time again.

I feel like it's only a few weeks since I was up to my neck in icing and biscuits for the sports day cake stall, and here we are again. Not only am I the cake stall lady again, but I am bloody well blogging about it again too.

This time I really need some new ideas.

I spent a happy hour or so on Pinterest last night, gathering inspiration.

But you: you my lovely readers - tell me your best cake stall advice? (Recipes MORE than welcome.)

What are the top sellers?

Do we restrict it just to cakes or branch out this year to fudge and sweets?

Do we do fancy stuff in jars? (See? I don't even know what I don't know?!)

Is chocolate everything the way to go? Or pink? Or sprinkles?

Slabs or individual?

Wrapped or unwrapped?

HELP!

I'm hosting the Weekend Rewind...

2011-12-02T20:26:00.002+10:30

Are you familiar with The Weekend Rewind?

It's a very easy and very lovely link up that gives you the opportunity to dig out and showcase an old post of yours from your blog, and give it a second run. An airing. An encore, no less!

Usually The Weekend Rewind would be hosted by my friend Multiple Mum - of And Then There Were Four, but Sister C asked me to step in this weekend. The Weekend Rewind originated with Sister A - Allison of the Pink Fibro fame. And Maxabella (Sister B) is otherwise engaged with her lovely linky, the Saturday Grateful

So I am the spare - the spare (unrelated) blogging sister - and very happy to be hosting my favourite linky, just for this week...

All you need to do is go for a trip down memory lane and dig up one of your fave posts from the month of August. And link it up below.

The rules of the Weekend Rewind Linky are the same each week. Follow along, comment a lot, and share the love by commenting on the other posts in the link up, by Facebooking and Tweeting and Stumbling the posts that you love, the ones that strike a chord.

I'll start us off with one of my favourite posts from August last year - if you are a fan of a things to do list, it will appeal...

I would love you to join in...

Quinoa Tabbouleh with Chicken

2011-12-01T06:00:00.005+10:30

Today I have the lovely Tatum guest posing for me. We met, just recently, in real life, and it was a delightful pleasure, as is Tatum's blog and her recipes...

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Hiya :) I am Tatum, I blog at From Somewhere in My Imagination and I am very excited to be guest posting for Lucy. I am a busy person, wife and mum of four. I'm a mining engineer, crafter, sister, daughter, blogger, friend and domestic goddess (well in the kitchen at least) to name just a few of the roles that make up who I am.

I grew up with some distorted views on my own body image that I have slowly, but surely (mostly) gotten over as I've gotten older. These days it just seems odd to me that I saw myself as 'needing to loose weight' when I weighed around 10kg less than I do right now. I sit comfortably within a healthy BMI range and these days my key indicators are how I feel and look in the mirror, not how much I weigh.
I love to exercise, for the most part I love to run but finding time can be tricky. I also love food. Last year I completed a round of Michelle Bridges' 12WBT, what I learnt from that program will stay with me for life. What it boils down to, Calories in & Calories burnt = weight loss, no rocket science needed!

Ever since, when I am feeling the need to trim a bit out of my diet I aim to cut my own meals back to around the 300-350 calorie mark. Today I am sharing one of those with you.

Over the years I have heard quite alot about quinoa, often hearing it referred to as a 'superfood'. As much as I love food I can be a bit reluctant to try new things, in case they taste awful!

I recently (finally) tried quinoa for the first time and am a total convert! It is expensive compared to other grains (I'm talking $6-$7 for 500g at the supermarket...look in the health food section) but a little goes a long way.

After cooking up my first batch I quickly had ideas for plenty of other ways to use it. I'll definitely be using it as a substitute for rice in dishes like pilaf and sushi and it's also a great replacement for cous cous. I don't think my family would notice if I served it with curry instead of rice and I'm pretty sure I could get away with replacing it as the side to stir fry.

For my first experiment I 'replaced' the cracked wheat you would normally use in tabbouleh and incorporated chicken to make an 'all in one' warm salad.

Quinoa Tabbouleh with Chicken - Serves 4 - 320 calories/serve

Ingredients

150g (raw weight) quinoa
300g Chicken Breast, preferably free range
50g Low Fat greek yoghurt
1 tsp Sumac
1 punnet Cherry tomatoes, halved
2 lebanese cucumbers, peeled and cut into batons
1 large, wholemeal pita bread, toasted in hot oven for about 7 minutes until golden brown.
Leaves from 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, washed well.
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

Mix together the yoghurt and sumac, use to coat the chicken breast and set aside while you get started on the quinoa and chop the tomatoes and cucumber.
Cook the quinoa in water according to the instructions on the packet. Be careful not to overcook it because it will get a bit mushy.
Drain the quinoa and leave it to cool.
Heat a grill plate or the barbecue and cook the chicken breast. Leave aside to rest.
Wash the parsley well and pick the leaves from the bunch.
Toast the pita bread in a hot oven until golden brown and crispy.
In a large serving bowl mix together the tomatoes, cucumber and quinoa.
Add the chicken, parsley and lemon juice. Finish with the broken up pita bread and season to taste with freshly cracked pepper.
Serve to the table, divide into serving bowls and dig in.

Hope you give the keen-wah a go and enjoy it as much as we did!

I post recipes regular (both low cal and regular ones) so if you'd to see more you might like to "Like" my facebook page here or follow me on twitter, where I talk all kinds of nonsense!

Tatum xx

Thread that, angels of beauty...

2011-11-30T06:58:00.000+10:30

Now that I am getting old, my top lip is a thing that needs to be dealt with, with alarming regularity.
And summer is here - I get a tan, my hair goes blonder and my top lip is like an out of control caterpillar that's been bleached. Movember? Yep. Me. (Over sharing? Much?)

Anyway, for the past few years I have had the fine ladies of Paradise (my superb local beauty one stop shop) deal with my top lip via waxing. One second of excruciating pain, like ripping a band aid off, and we are done. A swift wipe of metho across my top lip to stop any potential breakouts, $5 later, and I am all shiny, hairfree and happy. Thanks for coming. I get it done every month without fail.

Anyway, for some reason, I decided I needed a pedicure. Random. Like you do. And the lovely ladies at Paradise were all fully booked. So I decided to be "unfaithful" and go somewhere else. A quickie. There is a beauty salon near the kids school called "Beauty Angels" which looked convenient and not too grubby, who could fit me in there and then, so in I go.

Pleasant coffee, nice little bit of chit chat, all whilst the girl attended to my feet. I had my footsies scraped and soaked and exfoliated and scrubbed and all dealt with. Bright red toe nail polish applied, which I was admiring, when I realised I had ten minutes spare before I had to pick the kids up - "could you do my top lip whilst I am here....?"

No problem, and she lead me through to the beauty room - it was all soft lighting, aromatherapy candles, dolphin music and crystals. Very spa. Thank you.

I leaned back as I lay on the beauty bed, and she moved in behind me. Which did feel kind of odd, but whatever.

As I laid back, she kind of held my face in her hands and inspected me and my top lip in a kind of over analysing way - all cross eyed and technical. Weird.

And then instead of smearing on the hot wax stuff with the oversized paddle pop stick, she starts going at my face with some snapping stretched rubber band elastic thread thingo. She was playing some complicated cats cradle game with my entire face for fucks sake?!

She must have seen the utter terror and confusion in my eyes as I cried out in a demented fashion from shock and bizarre pain.

What the hell?? I actually raised myself up, and no word of a lie, she pushed me back on the bed to carry on, the sadistic bitch.

I squeaked and she said "you need to relax". RELAX? You are kidding me? And I blew my stack. I literally had to elbow her out of my face as I got up and ~~screeched~~ asked her "sorry lady, but what the hell are you doing to my face? I just want a top lip wax?!"

I then acted totally like one of my kids and burst into tears, hopped off the bed grabbed my bag and ran out of "Beauty Angels" (angels, my arse) and fled.

I am not joking when I tell you my heart was beating a million times faster than it should - from pain and from the adrenalin from my bizarre fight or flight situation.

Threading.

I tell you, I do not care who tells me it is hygenic and better for my face or restricts re-growth or whatever. That it is better for sensitive skin and does not use chemicals? I could not give a rats clacker. This threading method of hair removal may be the all new trend in depilation - I do not give a shit. It is scary and it bloody hurts. It may be a respected tradional method originating from ancient Prussia, a sign of wealth and luxury - whatever- I couldn't care less - it's undignified and terrifying.

I tell you, I am just gonna grow it all and turn into an aging hippy.

I realised, after I calmed down and after my heart rate returned to normal, that I hadn't actually paid for the torture, or indeed for my quite nice pedicure. So I sent Charlie in later with $50 to slap onto the counter, and he dripped chocolate Paddle Pop all over their shiny floors. Thread that, angels of beauty.

Do you wax? Thread? Pluck? Shave? Am I being an utter baby?

Finding time to exercise...

2011-11-29T06:00:00.031+10:30

Today I have one of my blogging besties guest posting for me. She is my blogging hero - for all the right reasons - her blog and her energy is inspiring. She runs her own race, and runs it brilliantly. Please welcome Kelly from Be a Fun Mum...

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It’s challenging: finding time to exercise now that I’m a parent. Gone are the days when I can take off for a spontaneous run. It’s taken me a while to work out what sort of exercise routine works for me, and that fits around my life situation. I’ve tackled some personal issues too, that have hindered my pursuit of fitness.

1. The first step was to make the conscious decision to do something about my health. I wrote about it here: Feeling Fat and Ugly.

2. Secondly, I had to embrace who I was and the changes in my body. I wrote about it here: Weight Gain and Post Baby Body Issues.

3. I jumped those hurdles, and now I have the freedom to work out what fitness/health routine works for me.

When working out a fitness routine, it’s a good idea to know the activities you enjoy (and don’t). Here is my list:

What I don’t enjoy:

• Exercising by myself at home

• Exercise videos

• Wii Fit

• Doing weights at the Gym

• Swimming laps

What I do enjoy:

• Running

• Team sport

• Walking/Bushwalking by myself (and with others)

• Group exercise sessions

• Bike riding

• Aerobics Classes

• Being out and about with my kids

Once I worked out the types of activities I enjoyed, I looked to see where I could fit some of these into my life. I’m rarely without children at this stage, so this makes finding time to exercise a little more challenging. The key for me was to find ways to incorporate physical activity into everyday life so it’s sustainable (and achievable).

My exercise routine:

Most days – I walk the kids to and from school most days. We are fortunate enough to live only 7 minutes walking distance from the school so it’s easy to sustain.

Monday – All About You Personal Training Mums and Bubs Group. Kate, my personal trainer, runs the class from her home in a child-friendly environment. It works for me because I can bring my son and I enjoy exercising with others in a group (and it keeps me accountable too!)

Wednesday – Rhee Tae Kwon Do night class (without the kids). I can only make it if my husband is home from work in time so I don’t do this class every week.

Friday – Rhee Tae Kwon Do early evening class (with the kids)

Weekend – Walk/Family Activity

You may read this and think: well she has it all sorted! However, it’s taken me a very long time to get to this point: where I feel like I’m getting some level of fitness back after becoming a mum. It’s been very much of a process for me. If I could go back, and give myself a list to help me get my head around how health and fitness fits into life once becoming a mum, I would encourage myself to look at these questions:

1. Is there something mental hindering your health? For example, how you feel about your post baby body?

2. Have you come to the point where you believe health IS an important part of your life?

3. Have you embraced the role of a parent and the subsequence limits in time and resources? This is reality, and once you embrace your circumstances Kelly, you can work around them, not against them.

4. Have you experimented with different forms of exercises to work out what activity you enjoy? (Don’t give up Kelly; there are things you can do (and enjoy!) around caring for the children).

5. How can you fit activity into your everyday life? Kelly, 10 minute here and there can be effective. Make it normal and weave it into your everyday life.

Do you struggle with finding time for a fitness routine?

About Kelly

Kelly lives in Queensland with her husband and four children. You’ll find her loving the moment with her kids on her blog Be A Fun Mum. The Be A Fun Mum Blog is all about reclaiming the joy of motherhood in a fast-paced world. It’s about loving the little moments which are like pieces of a puzzle, together creating a beautiful masterpiece. You can follow Kelly on Facebook and Twitter too!

Oh Mrs...(Mrs Fields Double Choc-Chip Cookies)

2011-11-28T12:16:00.002+10:30

One of my lovely Twittery friends, Vanessa, kindly sent me a recipe the other day - via photo, from a recipe book of hers.

It's another "freezer cookie" - meaning the dough can be frozen and then sliced off and baked whenever you need to whip up a batch.

And let me tell you, you are probably best off not making too many of these at a time - they are as rich and as indulgent as the name and the recipe indicates...

Mrs Fields Double Choc-Chip Cookies

(This recipe makes 48 large cookies - I have kept these quantities as when I made them yesterday I wanted a stash of the dough in my freezer for future use.)

1 cup soft brown sugar

3/4 cup caster sugar

250g butter or margarine

3 large eggs

2 tspn vanilla essence

2.5 cups of self raising flour

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups (375g!) choc chips

1. In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer) mix the sugars together and add the butter. Cream together until the mixture changes colour and goes all creamy.

2. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix well, until the mixture looks light and fully.

3. Sift in the flour and cocoa and add the choc chips. Mix until combined.
4. Divide the mixture into four and roll each portion into a roll and wrap in baking paper to freeze.
5. When you want to bake, remove the dough from the freezer, and slice off however many cookies you need. (Each roll will yield approx 12 large cookies)
6. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and cook at 1601c for about 18 minutes.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool

They are, quite simply, the richest, most luxurious cookie I have ever baked...and I feel a little smug warmth knowing that I have a huge stash of the dough ready to be baked at a moments notice, whenever required.
(My children have the best lunchbox treats ever!)

Enjoy!

Bedtime stories...

2011-11-27T07:00:00.002+10:30

My children are getting older.

It's only just recently that I realise I don't actually need to read them bedtime stories any more.

Olivia is voracious in reading her own material.

Charlie is well on his way, devouring all manner of "information" books. He is a non-fiction aficionado.

And Lexie still loves a picture book. But insists on reading it herself. She works through a pile of ten by herself, and drops them all from the bed onto the floor as she falls asleep.

The days of timing baths and bedtimes to enable each child the opportunity for us to read them a long story are slipping away.

Unless, of course, they are tired. Then they resort to a little more cuddly behavior.

I offered, the other night, for them all to get into my bed instead of theirs. And I offered story reading. There was much bickering over which stories and who secured which position in the bed next to me - three children - one mummy, someone, apparently, always "misses out"...

We read, together, several times, a range of beautiful books called "Little Treasures" by Peter Carnavas.

Oh, how lovely it was! Snuggled up, it reminded me of when my three were a lot smaller. But in this current era of grown-up-ness, they could of course appreciate the stories so much more. The tales and the message. And the stories were as appealing to me as they were to them.

Jessica's Box explores friendship and self worth - so pertinent considering Lexie has just this term started at school.

Sarah's Heavy Heart is heart meltingly lovely. The illustrations in all of Peter's books are simply sensational, but I especially love the big red heart depicted in this little tale. We can all identify, I hope, with the idea of a heart getting carried away, particularly with a friend..?

The Important Things, quite frankly, had me in tears. It's centred around a little boy whose father has faded from his life. I sobbed at the tales sweetness and of course this evoked some really vital conversations with the kids, which gave us all an opportunity for gratefulness and awareness. Charlie, who is very family aware, and sensitive to the changing nature of relationships, kept patting me. It was adorable.

All three of my children were fascinated by the story of the Last Tree in the City. Touching on the environment, the story was sad, but I was amazed at how quickly my kids began talking to me about their own perceptions of the story and indeed of their own natural world in relation to local environmental issues.

Olivia, Charlie and Lexie have requested these books to be read to them every single night for a week. High praise.

The illustrations are as magical as the stories are satisfying to read. The tales are wonderful for evoking lovely interesting conversations.

If you find yourself needing a little snuggle with your kids, and an opportunity to just chat with them, these books are actually ideal for a really broad age range. I would totally recommend them. At this time of year, these small books are perfect too, for stocking presents for Christmas.

The Little Treasures range of books by Peter Carnavas are available in all good bookshops, and online.

I have two sets of these Little Treasures, to give away.

To enter, all you need to do is make sure you are following my blog, and then leave me a comment, telling me your favourite bedtime story memory. (If you'd like to share via Twitter and Facebook too, that would be wonderful!)

Open to everyone and all my readers worldwide, - I am happy to post these internationally. Winners will be picked via Random.Org and announced this time next week...

Good luck!

Online Competitions

Church...

2011-11-25T20:51:00.000+10:30

I have been working hard it the city this week. Adelaide is a city in spring bloom. It's beautiful.

I drive in - and I have a blissful half hour or so in traffic through the Adelaide CDB (Up North Terrace, left into Frome, right onto Flinders, across Victoria Square and into Franklin Street, for my local readers!)

I pass a church - it is quite beautiful. It celebrates its 150th birthday this year. Imagine. It's like the rest of Adelaide - old and gracious and I love it. At the moment, it has a magnificent Jacaranda tree in full and amazing bloom, which seems to curl around its old walls.

So I am grateful for Adelaide. I am grateful for the signs of summer, and Jacaranda trees and their purple snow. We are on the cusp of change and I say bring it on.

I am grateful for my journeys into the city with my podcasts filling the car. What a glorious multi task that is - podcasts via itunes onto my iPhone with a little jack coming through my car stereo. And I use the red lights to slap my face on.

And here we are at the weekend. We have some unavoidable family chores to attend - I shall bite my lip and thank my lucky stars. By Sunday, all will be bliss.

I'm a happy grateful girl at the moment.

Linking up, as I go, with Maxabella...

I am my best friend and my worst enemy...

2011-11-24T06:00:00.004+10:30

Today's post is from a fellow Adelaide Lady Blogger, Bianca, of BigWords Blog. Bianca is, in her own words, an Adelaide writer, who blogs lush tales of life and love, living in chaos with her three beautiful children and gorgeous husband. She is writing her first novel. She drinks a lot of gin.

In my words, she is a warm, incredibly funny and honest chick who lights up my world when we get together. You can laugh with her on Twitter, follow her goings on on Facebook, and read her blog here.

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Image from here

Losing weight is a learning experience. The biggest thing I’ve learned is I am my best friend and my worst enemy.
You see I am the only person who can motivate me to lose to weight. I am the only person who can cheer me on, who can stop me eating donuts and reach for a carrot instead of a block of chocolate. I am the only person who can make me go for a walk or refrain from late night snaking. I can make goals and stick to them. I am blinkered when I want to be, dogged. I don’t lose sight of my personal aims.

I am also the only person who can break my goals - the only person who can self-sabotage with reckless abandon. Simple statements roll off my tongue like butter: “You look ugly”, “You’ll always be fat” and “Just have a day off from the diet, it won’t hurt”. All these statements start off quietly in my head and then get louder as the self-doubt grows. In a matter of moments, I can wipe out weeks of hard work. In a matter of moments, I can go from feeling invincible and proud of myself, to feeling like a loser unworthy of looking and feeling great.

After having my third child I decided it was time I got serious. Time to get my body back. But instead of losing weight, I was putting it on with gusto. At 84.5 kilos, I decided I needed a motivator so I signed up to the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation program. It was the best $200 I’ve spent in a long time. It gave me the boost I needed to kick-start my weight loss.

My husband and I followed the program together, but about half way through we started doing our own thing. We didn’t fail, we just felt like we’d got we needed out of it. We’d both lost about 7 kilos each and were ready to go it alone. What we were left with was a new way of living. We now eat smaller portions, exercise regularly, don’t snack, drink less and eat much healthier.

The problem is I keep talking myself out of achieving my medium-term goal of losing 10 kilos. I’m so close I can taste it. I can get into size 14 jeans again and can see size 12 within reach. But as I start to reap the benefits, my negative voices get louder. At present, I am having an internal struggle to stop the self-sabotaging. I’ve plateaued.

I have 7 more kilos I want to lose. I need to get serious with myself and get back into a strict routine. Head down, bum up. Hopefully, in a few months that head of mine will be filled with only positive thoughts and my bum will be a lot smaller.

How do you fight the self-sabotage?

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Mad for it...

2011-11-23T06:23:00.001+10:30

You know that feeling you get when you close a book on characters that you have fallen in love with? Characters that you know intimately? Real characters with flaws but you adore them anyway? Characters that have developed, traits that have emerged, histories that have unfurled, personalities that have evolved?

That is how I occasionally feel about some TV shows too. (I cried when The West Wing ended.)

The lovely husband and I have just finished watching, again, all four series of Mad Men. A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives. (Don Draper, you are my creative hero...)

The series, aside from being brilliant drama about the advertising world it's infancy, is also an enlightening snapshot of all sorts of social issues from our recent history. Smoking, the role of women in the home and in the office, homosexuality, race...all depicted wonderfully.

Last night was the final episode of season four of Mad Men for us. Until I get the next series in my hand, I almost feel as if I am grieving. (Season five is currently in production. It feels like a long long time between drinks.)

I know that, based on my Twitter stream that I am not alone in my adoration of all things Maddison Avenue, Jonn Hamm and Christina Hendricks.

So for the next few months I shall wait, until the next series is released. I shall work my inner Joan Holloway.

Tell me, are there any other brilliant dramas out there? If I love Mad Men and West Wing, what else would you recommend?

The "greedy" child...

2011-11-22T06:00:00.001+10:30

Today's guest post is from an anonymous poster. She approached me a few weeks ago with a draft. It resonated so much with me: I knew I could not refuse.

I suspect her words, and her experiences and her fears will resonate with many of you. I would like to thank her for her honesty. She asks a lot of questions in her post, so if any of you have wise words to share on this complex issue, I would love it if could comment and share.

When I was four and at Kinder I remember having a check up where my mum asked the nurse about my weight. The nurse said something along the lines that I was fine and would grow out of it. I look at photos of myself at that age and although I wasn't slender, I certainly wasn't fat. My next memory of my weight issue is about four years later when my dad took me for a walk and discussed my weight with me. He said that I was a lot prettier than my best friend, but that she was slim and if I was slim I would be even prettier than I already was. Over the next 10 years, my mum ignored my weight while my dad obsessed over it, varying his approach from taking me to the gym with him at 6am before school, family early morning exercise sessions at home, criticising me, telling me not to eat certain things, bribing and embarrassing me. I actually feel guilty describing my dad in this way, because it sounds so harsh and he is a great dad and I know he had my best interests at heart but oh my goodness, I really think his tactic "shaped" my life!

My weight went up and down, up and down over the years, and still is. I know that now, at 30-something, this is something completely within my control and is not my parents fault. But, as a mum of two, I don't want to relive the mistakes my parents made and I am really struggling with how to raise my kids with a healthy attitude to food and exercise. For the last few months I've been slowly and healthily losing weight and my oldest has been watching me exercise and joining in. At the age of three, he is extremely active and although solid, he is definitely slim and has no weight issues at all.

However, he does have a funny relationship with "naughty" food already and I'm scared that I've "done this" to him! When we go to a party, he will dive in the junk food and if he sees me approaching, he'll grab a handful of something and run away! While this is slightly amusing, I have to be honest that it's a bit terrifying too for me. I did a lot of my eating in secret, and was sneaky about it and I don't want my kids to have the same problems I had. My three year old can now also open his bedroom door on his own and twice this week he has gone to the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning and helped himself to food - chocolate, lollies and biscuits. I too used to do this in the middle of the night. A lot. Part of me thinks I should throw out all of the "naughty" food, but the other part thinks maybe I'm already depriving him of too much and that is what's making him greedy?

My friend has a theory with her kids: she doesn't want them to be greedy, so she lets them eat whatever they want, whenever they want, including chips and chocolate most days. This doesn't sit right with me. Although they certainly don't gorge themselves at any opportunity? I cook most of my kids meals and although they are healthy, they are not extreme. Pasta, meat, veggies, cheese, yogurt, eggs, oven baked home made "chips" and most of their snacks are either fruit or wholemeal vegetable baked "treats" but I also do bake sweet things for them occasionally too. The only reason the items my son took from the pantry were even there was because they were for baking or things friends had brought over: it's not food he's ever allowed to just eat freely at home.

I love food and I love cooking and baking and my three year old loves food too. We never eat take away fast food and the food he eats 90% of the time is very healthy. I know I can easily stop the baking of sweet things and have no treats in the house, but I don't know if that's the right to do either? I have really been trying to model and teach moderation, but after this week's early morning pantry raid, I feel like I've failed and am a bit unsure of where to go from here.

How do you regulate what your kids eat? Do you think you can make them greedy by depriving them of treats? If we restrict "sometimes" foods and junk foods, does that send them into a binge mentality early? Or do we let them eat whatever they want and hope for the best?

Expresso Cheesecake

2011-11-21T05:35:00.001+10:30

Espresso Cheesecake

This recipe came from a girl I met in Darwin, who was a part of my original mothers group. She loved to bake. I have kept the recipe for over seven years. It's a sensational cheesecake. Not too sickly. Ideal for desert, or to serve with the coffee it takes it's flavour from.

The lovely husband, who is generally not much of a fan of deserts, is partial to a slice of cheesecake. And he is a coffee lover. He has asked me to make him a cheesecake on more than one occasion, so yesterday I indulged him. I dug this recipe out and it came out as perfectly as I remember eating it before.

Filling

675g Philadelphia Cream Cheese ( I used the extra light one)
2 eggs
3 tablespoons cornflour
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
225g caster sugar
1 strong short black (or two teaspoons of instant coffee disolved into 2 tablespoons of hot water, cooled.)
250ml light thickened cream, whipped

Base

250g Marie or Granita biscuits, crushed finely in a food processor
115g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 150`c

2. Mix together crushed biscuits and melted butter. Press mixture firmly onto base and sides of a lightly greased 20cm spring-form tin or loose bottom tin. Refrigerate until required

3. Blend the cream cheese in a food processor or stand mixer until smooth

4. Add the eggs one by one, until combined

5. Keeping the processor/mixer on low, add the cornflour, the vanilla and the sugar

6. Add the coffee

7. Remove the mixture from the processor and tip into a large bowl & set aside.

8. Whip the cream. Then, ssing a whisk, combine the whipped cream with the cheese mixture.
7. Tip all this into the cheesecake base and bake for 25 minutes

8. Leave to cool, then refrigerate to chill.

If you do try this, let me know how you go?

And if you have any other sensational cheesecake recipes, I'd love you to share...

Scars remind me that the past is real...♫♫

2011-11-20T06:26:00.002+10:30

Well, actually, stretch marks remind me that my past pregnancies and my past jelly belly were real...

And scars too.

I have scars, wrinkles and stretch marks, as well as dehydrated skin .
I was going to get all brave and take snaps of my stretch marks, but to be honest, who needs to look at that as they read my blog over their morning coffee?

But I do have a scar on my leg which I hate.

We are coming up to summer and I live in shorts.

And my scar annoys me. It is red, but does not tan, so in summer when my legs go brown, it stays pale but red and, well, just...noticiable. (The scar is from a fall from July 2009 - over two years ago, that became infected. Nice. Not.)

So I decided to complete my own 28 day trial of the "clinically proven" Busby Pure Tissue Oil.

I was sent some Busby Pure Tissue Oil to trial. I could think of no better use for it, for me, for my leg scar. (I am cheerfully resigned to the stretch marks and the wrinkles...)

Cheaper than a dermatologist appointment or plastic surgery Busby Natural Oil retails at only $17.95 for 100ml. Available at most pharmacies nationwide - just call 1800 655 841 for stockists.

It smells divine - so I have used it as a body lotion on my legs, rather than a medicinal style cream or oil. It doesn't feel greasy and it comes in a pump pack. It contains only naturally derived oils, and no petrochemicals. It's actually really lovely to use, on my legs and on my arms.

And the results?

See for yourselves - here are the before and after shots:

It's a bit tricky to really see the massive difference - taking a snap of my own leg at the best angle is hard enough! But there has been more improvement in appearnace in one month than there has been in the previous two years. I have used another brand of oil before - it did nothing. The Busby oil has most definately made a dramatic improvement. More than enough evidence for me to continue using it.

I have another five 100ml bottles of Busby Pure Tissue Oil to give away. All you need to do is make sure you are following my blog, and leave me a comment telling me why you need to try this liquid gold. Winner will be chosen this time next week.

Open to Australian residents only, and the winner will be picked by random.org

Online Competitions

100

2011-11-19T15:57:00.001+10:30

Me & Peggy in about 2000. She was pretty, I was so fat.

My granny would have been 100 today.

She was born on the 19th November 1911. 19.11.1911

It's her birthday. I wish she was here to get a telegram from the Queen.

I wish she were here so I could pop in and have a chat.

I still think of her every single day. She was so pretty. She had the softest peachiest skin.

She was a nag, in a way that I realise annoyed me intensely because she was often so right.

She peppers my thoughts in such a good way.

Granny, I miss you.

I hope you look down on us and smile.

* Fiona - if you are reading, I know you miss her too. xxx

His head in his hands...

2011-11-18T06:00:00.005+10:30

I grew up in a very non violent home. I have wracked my brains, time and time again, to try and recall if my Dad ever raised his voice even, let alone his fist. He was a peaceful man who loved his family to the exclusion of most other things. I only saw him angry a couple of times. At circumstance and other people's persistent incompetence. But it was a rare rare thing and he fumed inwardly, and was never violent, nor did he ever show a temper.

I am one of five children. It must have been chaos in our home at times. But as far as I can remember, we were never smacked. Cuddles were more the currency. We all hated any form of confrontation. Violence was, quite simply, never a tactic.

My Mum had a slight temper. She would throw things in frustration. And we were idly threatened with the wooden spoon at various times. But I never ever lived in fear of a violent response from her.

My brothers were protectors and the greatest threat they posed to me were tickles. My middle brother could reduce me to an utter puddle with his tickles. But never, ever violent.

I left home at eighteen, to go to uni. A few semesters were subsequently spent on an industry placement. In a hotel in a beautiful part of England.

I met, and fell in love with, a guy.We moved in with one with unseemly haste. He was kind, he was gentle. He was charismatic.We laughed and played and worked hard together.

He was a large man. Broad and dark. He had an aura of magnetism that evidently attracted me. He was funny and appeared to be so very confident. Capable. Savvy and tenacious.

We spent a long and hedonistic summer together. We worked and partied and loved and laughed with the abandon of youth. I was his girl.

One night, somnolent on dope, we curled up together. He started talking about the plans he had for us, for the following year. Sleepily, I listened, lulled by his love and by his voice. He was painting a picture. A picture of a life beyond the summer, beyond the season, beyond Christmas. Beyond the next semester and the rest.

I raised myself onto my elbow and queried - where we would be, I wondered?

"Here, of course". He looked at me, amazed that the question of location would even enter my head.

"But what about uni? What about my degree?"

And then, it was as if a different person emerged into the room.

His eyes flashed with something I have never seen before. An anger, a confusion, a resentment, an inexplicable frustration.

He sat up. "Forget it. You'll be here. With me."

I met his eye, and, with the arrogance and certainty of youth, I replied "Forget what? Uni? No. I'll be going to back to uni. I've got to."

And out of nowhere, he hit me. In the face. He took a blow to the right side of my face with his left hand, and punched me.

He hit me so hard, that my jaw rattled in my head. I felt as if my eyeballs had jolted out of my face. The pain and shock were utterly indescribable. I could feel an uprising of liquid to my throat as I fell, sliding, out of the bed, to the floor. To this day I do not know if that liquid was vomit or blood or bile or just the sensation of terror.

I can't really remember anything else. I can recall the sound of my heart pumping. It felt so loud. I have an image of him sitting on the side of the bed, his back to me, his head in his hands. His broad back, hunched.

I dressed and grabbed cigarettes and my bag like a woman posessed. (In hindsight, I was posessed, fuelled by adrenalin.) It was the middle of the night and I walked to work, despite my legs having a liquid feeling like I could faint at any second, to the hotel where we both worked. I fell, literally, into the arms of the night porter, who immediately opened a room up and made me hot tea. (I knew him. John, his name was. He was tall. Like Lurch from the Munsters. He was so kind. I don't think I ever thanked him.)

I was drinking the tea, when there was a gentle knock. In came the wife of my boss. She cleaned me up. I can still see all those lovely white hotel towels, stained with blood. She cried with me as I told her what had happened, as I replayed the scene in words, to her, and to myself. I was so utterly shocked. And stunned with disbelief. I admitted to her that if it were not for the blood, I would have truly thought it was a terrible dream.

She put me in the shower and made more tea. And then stroked my hair as I slept. I will never, as long as I live, forget her kindness to me. Her lack of judgment and the absence of anger were exactly what I needed.

Early morning came and she told me to stay exactly where I was. I saw my own face in the mirror and realised that my heart as well as my face were utterly broken. The shame. She appeared back, with a pile of her clothes for me, and gave me a white envelope. Inside was £130. She waited for me to get dressed and then put me in her car and drove me to the railway station.

Eventually, from a friends house, hundreds and hundreds of miles away, I phoned her. To thank her. We talked. Distance actually made the conversation easier.

"I didn't want you to stay. We could have nursed your face back to good. I didn't want to watch you go back to that. Back to waiting for another beating. Back to what you though was love. I didn't want you to waste these years on trying to change someone." (That there was an echo of absolute empathy and understanding via experience in her words was something I only appreciated a lot later.)

I still recall that conversation. I will never know, thankfully, whether I would have gone back to him or not. The distance she put between us was exactly what I needed to be safe and to heal. To make clear decisions and choices. To hurt. To tend my broken face and my pride. Without the fear of him nearby.
I sense that I would not have gone back. As I indicated at the start of this post, my "normal" was totally non violent. My presumption, as a child and as a teen, was that all men are kind and gentle to the core. (I thank my parents for that.) Sadly this is not the case. My gut reaction on that night was to flee. I am so relieved that I did. I fled, and the wife of my boss helped me get away totally, through cash and phone calls and kindness and belief.

My resounding message behind this sad tale? My children will never see violence in this house. They grow up knowing that violence is unacceptable behaviour in any form. Daddy will never ever hit Mummy, ever. Violence will be foreign to my children. So that, heaven forbid, they too may flee at the first sign of any violence in their future relationships. I cannot control who they fall in love with. But I hope and pray I can influence how they react to violence.

I have posted this as a part of the Speak Out Campaign, passionately coordinated by the lovely Kristin over at Wanderlust. Go have a read - she has all the details.

I burned 600 calories and what I got was my brain...

2011-11-17T06:00:00.009+10:30

Today I have Suz guest posting for me. Suz is a blogger and Twitterer who I met at a blogging conference last year. We clicked. We had dinner with one another and I suspect I fell a little in love with her. She is brave and she is very cool. She is beautiful and she is getting really healthy - mentally and physically she is a strong strong woman, and I am very glad to know her...please welcome her and leave her come comment love?

Since I began to lose weight, I have thought lots about the process of doing it, the benefits, the challenges, all of it. It’s a narrative that plays in my mind pretty constantly. It’s not like it’s become an obsession but I am most certainly much more mindful about my nutrition, my exercise, my well being.

And the work and thought is paying a dividend. Almost 15 kilograms has come off my frame since April this year. I can’t begin to tell you how much better I feel.

Yesterday though, I got the message of the greatest impact this big change of life and looking after me has had.
I woke up at 7am, tired, flat, with “Mondayitis” in the extreme. I felt crotchety, teary, cranky and ready to pick an argument with whoever crossed my path (Sorry to my beloved Captain). It was an ugly way to begin the week. I would even go so far as to say I was feeling a bit depressed. Ahead of me was a day filled with my son’s autism therapy, visiting grandparents, a busy and active two year old and much more.

What I had up my sleeve was my regular Monday morning gym circuit class (with child care included). I’m not quite sure how I did, but somehow I got my gym clothes on and I got myself and the kids there. And I did this:

I spent the rest of the day feeling more peaceful, more patient and more able to be in the moment with my two boys. The day was still hectic. There were annoyances and road blocks. But my mind was calm, the anxious, jittery creature of the morning banished. It was the exercise that did it.

It’s a simple equation. Exercise = feel good.

Simple.

I am not saying it is easy to do, oh no, sometimes as mums of young children creating time to exercise can be so very hard. The equation itself though is simple. I burned 600 calories and what I got was my brain, at peace.

A simple equation. The impact, immeasurable.

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I am finding my way through life, motherhood and the strange world we live in. I’m most often looking for dreams, reality and inspiration along the everyday footpath. I’m the partner of the loveliest of men and mama of two gorgeous boys.

I blog about my dreams, reality and inspiration at Segovia. I also blogs about our family adventure with autism at The I Love You Song. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook here

I am also currently involved in a fundraising initiative for Learning for Life Autism Centre. Each year we raise funds through a big Ball. It is held at Leonda in Melbourne. Leonda have just agreed to donate $1 for every Facebook liker, Twitter follower and LinkedIn connection they get until the end of November. Generous! So, Lucy and I would adore you forever if you clicked over and showed Leonda some follow like connect love! THANK YOU!

So far, so good...

2011-11-16T05:58:00.001+10:30

How is it that when I work from home, I get little done? When I have all three children at school, and those hours are mine, I laibour slowly. Dull chores are always put off until tomorrow and I procrastinate over everything?

And how is it when I am studying full time, we are all eating better and having more fun and things get done more efficiently?

I do not get it.

I am glad though.

I once worked for a wise gentleman - he owned a beautiful hotel that I worked in as a teen - he told me that the more we do, the busier we get, the more energy we get. The momentum gathers, and the more we do, the more we want to do.
I think he was right.

I was terrified that I would not cope with house, kids, husband and work as well as study. Scared and nervous for myself and for the kids. The state of the house and the laundry has a direct and usually detrimental impact upon my mood. I was nervous.

But instead it is all working. Working well. Time seems to expand to allow us to get it all done. We are all happy. I am happy.

So far, so good...

Instant gratification versus the waistline

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000+10:30

Today I have one of my very favourite blogging buddies here for a visit. She is a clever clever blogger and enchants all of her readers with her style and conversation. Despite having "known" one another for a few years via blogging; despite sending one another gifts as well as virtual love and support, we have never met. No matter - I feel that I know her well - which is utterly delightful.

So please welcome my friend Maxabella, who is guest posting for me today. I sense she will be right at home here...

Image by Tim Coulson

So, I’ve been on a diet for about 22 years now... maybe even longer, although I barely count the angst ridden teens when skipping lunch made me feel self-righteous enough to eat two dinners.

Anyway.

Twenty two years is a long time to be doing anything, let alone something you’re clearly not very good at. It’s certainly true that I have not been traditionally successful at weight loss, but my Twenty Two Year Diet (snappy book title, right?) has at least been successful at keeping me marginally smaller than a house. So, that’s got to count for something, right?

I like to think I’ve learned something along the way. Something more interesting than ‘If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got‘ (so true) and ‘No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch’ (probably true) and ‘nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels’ (so not true).

I’ve learned that my struggle is with delaying gratification, not with being fat.

I’ve learned that my struggle is with denial, not with being fat.

I’ve learned that my struggle is with rebellion, not with being fat.

I guess my (very big) bottom line is that somewhere deep inside me I don’t really mind being ‘the big girl’. I’ve always wanted to believe that you can still be attractive, healthy and important, even if you’re bigger. You can do everything you need to do and be anything you want to be. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to spend your whole life wishing you were different.

I guess I’ve learned that I don’t want it to matter. I don’t want to spend the next 22 years wishing I was different; I want to be healthy and be okay, just as I am. I’m just not sure how I’m going to do that...

Maxabella loves her three kiddos with all her might, especially as they have provided her with a fantastic excuse for being fat. "Oh, I just packed on the weight after having three children in four years" she says earnestly to sympathetic nods and murmers. She mentions neither the fact that she was perfectly capable of packing on the weight prior to having children nor the fact that her youngest is now three and a half. Last week she had a dream that she told someone she was still trying to lose the baby weight. "Oh, how old is your baby," they asked. "Twenty seven," Maxabella replied.

Bottom of the Box Biscuits (Breakfast Biscuits!)

2011-11-14T05:57:00.005+10:30

Bottom of the Box Biscuits (Breakfast Biscuits!)

I aspire to be an organised and efficient Mummy. Sometimes I am just rubbish though. And I read blogs and mess about on Pinterest whislt I should be feeding my children breakfast before school. And so this biscuit is brilliant - it's a mobile breakfast! I made a batch yesterday morning - perfect for dolong out all week...)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
3 tablespoons orange juice ( I used the juice and pulp of one whole orange)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour (or wholemeal)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups of cereal (Sultana Bran, Buds, Cornflakes, Rice Bubbles, Just Right – whatever you have…all the leftover bits from the bottom of the cereal boxes…)

Preheat oven to 200`c.
Cream together sugar and butter.
Beat in egg, orange juice, and vanilla.
Sift in the flour and the baking powder, stir well to combine
Stir in your cereals to combine
Drop onto ungreased baking tray and bake at 200`c for about 10 minutes
Allow to cool a little and then transfer to cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container and ~~dish them out for breakfast if you are running around late~~....or for morning tea. Or for lunchbox treats...

Last week I was lucky enough to attend another brunch with Kelloggs and Brand Meets Blog. I was given all sorts of boxes of cereal to try. Hence I had to find a recipe to use up all of our old faves! I ♥ Kelloggs, I really do. They are a class act. It was a wonderful opportunity to stretch my marketing and Mum brain, and sensational to get together with a charismatic bunch of Adelaide and Perth bloggers. They did not ask me to write any of this. I just like to.

Toothy pegs...(a review and giveaway!)

2011-11-13T06:00:00.007+10:30

Sadly not my teeth. I aim for mine to look this good eventually...

I wrote, some months ago now, about the state of my teeth. A great many visits to the dentist later, and my mouth is healthier. (Still not much prettier, but a whole lot healthier and for that I am relieved.)

And of course, I am determined to keep them healthy. (Just like when I gave up smoking and when I lose weight, I have turned ~~obsessively~~ ~~very~~ a little evangelical when it comes to teeth brushing.)

For me and the kids and for lovely husband, it's a twice a day obsession. We have all become adept and keen. Olivia, Charlie and Lexie are all lucky recipients of strong teeth, and so far, healthy teeth too. Wobbles and gaps aside, they have lovely toothy pegs.

They still leave blobs of toothpaste foam on the hand towels and they leave globs of toothpaste all over the bathroom vanity, which also bugs me. They never rinse the basin properly and teeth tooth brushing evidence all over the place. They squeeze the toothpaste tube all wrong - they push from the middle: how wrong, how annoying!

But I cannot complain. The teeth brushing thing, for them, has become ingrained, and as automatic as breathing. I pray for superb dental histories for them all. I never want them to experience the pain that an unhealthy mouthful of rotten teeth can bring. Or the price! My mouth has costs me thousands of dollars. I do not want my kids to incur that expense!

We, as a family, recently undertook the Philips Sonicare 28 Day Family Challenge

All five of us have used the Philips Sonicare for just over a month now. Sensational!

At first I was a little worried about the electronic nature of all these tooth brushes - we only have one power point in our bathrooms. BUT, once charged, the toothbrushes hold the charge for WEEKS! So you really only need to charge them once every three weeks or so? No dangling cords in the bathroom.

The Sonicare for Kids, which has interchangeable different coloured handles, features:

Kid Timer helps to increase brushing time (perfect for Lexie, who tends to be a little too slapdash at times!)
2 Kid-friendly power modes deliver a gentle, effective clean (Charlie and Olivia operate at a more powerful level than little Lexie, for example.)
Age-appropriate brush heads to protect kid's teeth
Kid Pacer delivers fun and engaging musical tones - this is the BEST! The toothbrush plays a little tune to remind the kids to swap sides. The whole thing takes 2 minutes - meaning they are encourages to brush for 30 seconds top and bottom, right and left.

In terms of my teeth, I have used the Philips FlexCare+.

I actually asked my dentist's advice about it, and she was, initially, slightly ambivalent. I have a regular "date" with my dentist - I go every fortnight for work to continue. So we decided between us to do an honest review after a month. I promised to used the Philips FlexCare+ twice a day for a month, and she promised to give me her expert thoughts afterwards. And her opinion? She was actually genuinely impressed! She indicated that my gums particularly are in much better condition (plumper, with a much paler pink colour.) She actually admitted to being surprised at the definite improvement.

Plus, I like using it. It feels really gentle whilst I am brushing, but afterwards, my teeth feel a lot shinier and a lot squeaky cleaner!

So there you have it. My kids love their Philips toothbrushes, so do I, and so does my dentist.

I have a Sonicare FlexCare + to giveaway, thanks to Philips.

To enter, just make sure you are following my blog, and leave me a comment telling your worst dental habit?!

Open to Australian Residents only. Winner will be drawn this time next week, via Random.Org, and informed by email. If you would like to share this giveaway via Twitter or Facebook, I will love you forever.

Online Competitions

More than kisses, letters mingle souls...

2011-11-11T20:30:00.002+10:30

I received a letter in the post yesterday.

In a white envelope, with the most beautiful hand writing ever.

I grinned at the postmark, and tucked it into my bag.

Eventually, after hauling three children and their school bags and some groceries into the house; after dishing up some dinner, I retrieved the letter.

It had a satisfying weight and fullness to it, that envelope.

With a cup of tea, I kicked off my shoes, and settled down to open my letter and read it.

It was a delight. What a wonderful thing is a letter, capable of conveying across immense distance, a warm human hand.

From a friend who knows me well. From a girl I know well. We met nearly ten years ago and became close straight away. She has a very special place in my heart and a wonderful and amazing connection to my eldest daughter. She is one of the gentlest souls I have ever met. Just seeing her name, or a photo of her, and certainly reading a letter from her - her aura and her sense of peace shines through and makes me calm. And she is funny too. Craploads funny, with the language, at times of a navvy, which makes me laugh with comfort.

And she wrote me a letter. It made me cry, because it made me feel close to her. It made me miss her, it made me appreciate her and it made me remember her: really remember. That letter made me feel like she was in my kitchen with me for a little while. Email does not have that ability. It was lovely.

So this evening I am grateful for handwritten letters. Pages of scrawl, of news, of love and hopes.

And now I am off to write one back.

Do you send or receive handwritten letters these days?

Linking up, as I do, with Maxabella

I want to be a granny!

2011-11-10T06:00:00.002+10:30

Today I have a treat for you - a guest post from the very lovely Seana. Seana Smith is a Scottish-born, Sydney-dwelling mother of four children and author of three books. She blogs at her author website: http://www.seanasmith.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Seana.Smith.Author
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Seana_Smith
I met Seana at the AMB Conference last March. Her warmth and her enthusiasm is utterly infectious. She is as wise as she is fun.

I know you will welcome her, and her thoughts may very well resonate!

I Am A Motivated Mother! Finally!

Something has changed for me and my body this year. What is it?

Was it reading the wise words of other bloggy inspiring mums, like Lucy? Was it that my children are all a bit older, two at school and two at preschool three days a week? Was it the C25K running program I heard so much about and then finally did?

Yes, all of the above.

But the bigger thing, I think, is that I now have a very motivating phrase stuck firmly in my mind. When I think about me, my body and my health, it pops up straight away.

I want to be a granny!

I think I’d be a good granny and I’d like to have the chance to give it a bash.

Imagine being a granny, looking after one or two children at a time. You concentrate on them completely, you take them away on holidays, they have sleepover adventures at your house.

Then they go home.

I won’t confuse myself by doing the math, but since I had my children aged 33, 36 and 42, I need to live for a long time.

Grannies are important

Bringing up our children in Australia, my husband and I have missed all of the joys and benefits of grandparents close by. As lots of us do.

Visits are wonderful but it’s not the same. This absence is the greatest grief of my life. But here is home.

I’d like my children to have family around to help them as they bring up their children.

And I’d love my grandchildren to have a granny to be a lovely part of their lives.

So, you see I need to be a granny for my kids and grandkids and for myself too.

So I better keep healthy and active.

I’d like to model myself on my paternal grandparents. In their 70s, Gran was still wearing hotpants (with legs better than mine have ever been) and Papa was taking us cycling and youth hostelling all over Scotland.

Seana with Gran and Papa on a visit to a castle in 1974

They were fit and healthy and they both lived to a ripe old age.

So… eat less and eat better, exercise more and exercise better… be active during the day… sleep well at night.

It’s simple, we all know these things.

That doesn’t make it easy though.

I needed to write this today, as I had such a busy and demanding week last week. I went out a lot, hosted a huge party, drank and ate far too much, felt stressed and knocked back a couple of wines a night to de-stress

(I’m an idiot, wine is such a short term de-stress and I feel dreadful now.)

So I am fixing that vision of me as a granny in my mind and will be at the gym early in the morning.

Now, off to indoctrinate my kids; “You’ll love having babies. kids, and mummy will help you with them. I’ll be the granny and you’ll be the parents.’

My little daughter has been known to reply: “When I’m the mummy and you’re the granny, I’m not going to be a mean mother like you are.”

Let’s hope we’ll live to see whether that is the case, dearest daughter!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you Seana!

How to learn...

2011-11-09T06:21:00.000+10:30

I was a student at uni between 1987 and 1990. I was a fairly average high school student.

And when I got to uni, I realised: all that time at school and all of those exams had, indeed, taught me how to study. Fancy that! Who knew?!

And so here I am again, over twenty years later, studying once more.

And I am so glad I know "how to study". All life's experiences, particularly being a parent, means my brain has the ability to cut through the crap to be bits that actually count, the information I really need to know. I can concentrate on five things at once and still retain the key, most salient points.

I can immerse myself in the books for a couple of hours without the need for coffee or a fag these days - and what a relief that is.

Blogging around children has given me the ability to be able to write engaging content quickly - my assignments, whilst complex, are "easy", as it feels like second nature to sit down at the computer late at night to start tackling something.

The fast pace and direct nature of Twitter has shown me, and given me vital practice in, asking questions quickly and directly. And then the impetus to digest and act upon that information quickly without preamble.

I am not distracted by the social elements like I used to be. I neither have time nor inclination or desire to eye up any of my fellow students, no matter how good looking or cool. I have no hangovers to contend with, nor do I care for any cliquey bitching, It runs like water off a ducks back.

Lecturers do not have the age differential to intimidate me. I approach them as equals, without nerves. I am too old to care what they think, and certainly too old to be embarrassed at needing to ask for clarifications.

Confidence from age and experience has given me an edge - none of if scares me. Bring it on, I say!

What about you? Would you ever, have you ever returned to study?

How to eat...

2011-11-08T06:00:00.003+10:30

I weighed in yesterday, for the first time in forever. I lost 0.6kg in a week.

Last week was a remarkably good and low calorie week for me. Plenty of exercise and some long steep walks.

Despite being really busy, I managed to get a number of early nights in too.

And I drank a lot of water.

All good. I was left, at the end of the week, feeling very healthy, like my body was really working to it's optimum capacity. I felt nicely tired, but not lethargic.

So, I kind of think I should just repeat the way that I ate this week. And blogging about it serves two purposes - it reminds me to just keep doing what works. And of course, it may help someone else along the way...

Breakfast - a piece of fruit and a coffee the minute I get up. Plus one or other of the following:

Muesli bar
Bowl of cereal with skim milk
Wholemeal toast spread with low fat cream cheese
Protein shake

Approx 350 calories

Lunch - sandwich made with two slices of grainy seeded bread. Burgen or similar. My fillings range from tuna mayo, leg ham and low fat cheese, lean beef and mustard, hard-boiled egg and mayo, shredded chicken. I always use low fat cream cheese as the spread instead of butter, and always add lettuce and salad to the sandwich .

Plus, a low fat yoghurt or a piece of fruit.

Approx 400 calories

Dinner - Lean protein, such as chicken, beef or fish. Grilled or baked. Salad or veggies. Small serve (about half a cup) of carbs such as rice, pasta or potato, or one slice of seedy bread. One Lindt Lndor Ball.

Approx 450 calories

Snacks - any of these 100 calorie snack ideas...

The total colories of all this totally normal food comes in at around 1500, if you include a couple of coffees and all the salad and a pile of veggies.

Last week, this simple approach was really effective for me. It was easy to implement, and didn't leave me feeling deprived at any point. it was easy to prepare, easy to shop for, and didn;t break the bank. It was the way I would like to be able to eat every day.

Would this kind of eating plan work for you?

Baggage...

2011-11-07T06:00:00.002+10:30

I have been doing a lot of work recently on some short articles to do with the very basics of weight loss.
It astounds me how relatively easily I can relay the knowledge I have acquired in relation to losing weight, onto paper. My fingers fly across the keyboard, to get it all down.

The facts and figures and tasks behind the science of losing weight are stored and preserved in my head, always there, always flowing, for easy reference.

Ask me anything about how to lose weight, how to eat for optimum health and vitality, and I am a fountain of information. If you have a query on calorie counts, weight loss tools and ways to exercise for maximum fat burning effect: I can relate a range of accurate examples and methods.

I don't believe anyone is really an "expert" in a field, but I have studied nutrition at uni, and I have been working with two personal trainers over the past three years, both of whom are incredibly generous in sharing their knowledge.

Plus, of course, I have been morbidly obese and lost a fair amount of weight myself. So I have practiced all the theories behind the simple concept of "eat less and move more". And it works. I have lost weight.

So why is it that food is still a battle for me?

Why is it that, despite the detailed knowledge and experience I have, I'm still not actually at my goal weight?

Why is it that I have maintained this my current weight for nearly a year, but not actually lost any more kilos?

Why don't I practice what I preach all the time, unconsciously?

Emotional connections with food. Emotional eating. Emotional baggage. Emotional hurdles.That's why.

And so that's what I am focusing on solely at the moment. Getting my head sorted. Once and for all.

And for me, that is not just about getting motivated. It's not just about getting a plan together and feeling inspired on a Monday morning. It's not about setting a goal and sticking to it. It's not about digging deep and summoning will power. All these things are really important, for sure. But I suspect I need to go deeper and really resolve the emotional baggage I have been clinging onto.

You know when you are at the airport and there is one sad pathetic bag just going around and around on the carousel? That is what emotional hurdles feel like, for me. That black bag of stuff just keeps coming around and around, time and time again. Nothing changes without some action.

It is time for me to action that emotional baggage...

Anchored memories...

2011-11-06T15:57:00.001+10:30

When I was a little kid, I spent a long hot summer in Adelaide, with my grandparents, who both lived here their whole lives.

All the way from England, it was foreign to me, but home, adventurous and exciting, but still safe.
I took it for granted at the time, I'm sure. The sights and smells, the treats, the journeys.

My Grannie worked in the city - for the South Australian Red Cross.

We would meet her for lunch, my younger brother and I, and she would wander us down for a picnic on the banks of the River Torrens.

Sometimes my Grandpa would meet us too, and as she went back to her office, he would take us for walks around the Adelaide Oval, or for a boat trip up the Torrens on the Popeye river boat. In his hat, with his pipe and his short sleeve order, we would trundle.

It was many many years before I returned to Adelaide. In my minds eye, as a child, growing up through my teens into a student then career girl in England, Australia became represented by the image in my mind of the lush grassy banks of the River Torrens in the sun. I had a memory etched in my brain - a vivid picture of a sunny bright day, and the green clean goodness of Elder Park.

And now, here we are, thirty five years later, and Adelaide is home.

We took a day trip out today, the lovely husband and I, with the children.

We took them on the Popeye cruise, from Jolley's Boathouse to the Adelaide Zoo, and back again.

We picnicked on the banks of the Torrens in the sun. We let the kids roll down the river bank and get grass in their hair. They chased seagulls and laughed and laughed. We played tourists in our own town, and it was quite wonderful.

I anchor myself to the memories I had, and then link those anchored memories to days like today, when I realise that all the dreams of contentment I wished for myself as a child are magically my reality right here, right now. If I manifested this for myself or if it is all just one huge lovely coincidence, I don't care. I am here, and it is good. So good.

Has this happened to you? Do you have childhood memories that come back round?

Grateful for candles...

2011-11-04T20:30:00.001+10:30

I have worked hard this week. I am studying to finish my Cert IV in Property Services & Real Estate.

I am running round, as always, to make sure the kids are dressed, fed, and happy. They are all still so little. They are my number one priority. I am tethered to their needs and care.

The chores of a family of five do not magically disappear just because I am studying. The ironing basket still fills, and the last time I looked, there wasn't a little band of fairies waiting to empty the dishwasher nor scrub the toilet.

My usual work both at home and in the office still needs to be completed. I am writing to deadlines for work that I am really grateful for.

I still have a husband who wants to talk to me and who wants me to hold his head in my lap whilst we watch repeats of Mad Men with a glass of wine.

And I am enjoying a period of particular dedication to my health. So often, when I am burning my candle at both ends, I fall back into old habits of late night snacking and crappy food choices. An exercise session here or there may get missed. But not this week. I am mindful all the time that my healthy lifestyle cannot get ditched, just because life got busy.

I am grateful for the energy I seem to have managed to generate by eating supportively and exercising well that I know will keep me going over the next month or so.

So, this week I am grateful for candles that burn at both ends.

"My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends–
It gives a lovely light!"

Edna St. Vincent Millay

What are YOU grateful for this week?

Linking up, as I do, to Maxabella.

Freeze ahead marinated chicken...

2011-11-03T06:30:00.001+10:30

I am out of the house a lot next month and I'm trying to get organised and plan ahead, so that I'm organised enough to maintain my healthy eating. (If I'm time poor or feeling stressed and busy, often I run the risk of slipping up in terms of what I eat...and I am guessing I am not alone here?!)

So, my plan for today is to stack the freezer a little, with healthy meals. Lasagne has been made already, as has a big batch of chilli con carne, as well as some tuna mornay.

My preference though, moving into warmer weather, tends to be for more grilled lean meats. Which are quick and easy to cook for all of us, if we get home late.

So I realise I might as well buy chicken breasts in bulk, and then marinade them in bulk, and then put bags of marinading chicken into the freezer. Then, on the days I know I am going to need a quick and simple healthy meal, I can just take a bag of pre-marinaded chicken out of the freezer, and it'll be instantly ready to cook at dinner time...

I generally marinade boneless, skinless chicken breasts - trimmed of all the fat and icky bits. Sometimes I find breast meat a bit bland, and so often they need a little marinade to add some decent flavour. We eat chicken breast a lot - it's lean and low in calories and fat, hence mixing it up a little with different marinades is ideal.

Traditionally marinades combine an acid, like lemon juice, yogurt, or vinegar, with some oil and flavoring ingredients like salt, pepper, herbs, fruits, and mustard. I do use a small amount of oil in a marinade - it helps the texture of the meat and it means that if you grill the chicken on a BBQ or cast iron griddle, the meat doesn't stick and shred apart. Plus this gives the marinade more flavour.

Freezing the marinaded chicken means that the chicken doesn't go mushy (which it tends to do if you leave meat marinading just in the fridge for too long.)
I use fresh herbs in marinades as much as possible - either from the garden or from the veggie section at the supermarket. Dried herbs will do though - be generous!
I mix the marinades in a heavy duty zip lock bag, then add the trimmed chicken breast, and then squish it all around a bit, and then throw it into the freezer, labelled.

Some tasty marinading ideas that work well are:

Lemon and Herb - The juice and zest of fresh lemons, Olive oil, fresh thyme and oregano, and black pepper
Teriyaki - The juice and zest of fresh oranges, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce
Chinese - White vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, ground five-spice, garlic, soy sauce, and ground pimento
Mexican - The juice and zest of fresh limes, canola oil, garlic, chilli, and Cajun seasoning
BBQ - White vinegar, vegetable oil, brown sugar, tomato ketchup, mustard, salt and paprika
Greek - Greek yogurt, olive oil, diced onion, garlic, oregano cinnamon, nutmeg, white pepper, parsley
Indian - natural yogurt, vegetable oil, tandoori curry paste, tomato puree
Satay - sweet chilli sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger.

Would this work for you?

And if anyone has any other time saving healthy meal ideas, let me know?

The weight is over...

2011-11-02T06:30:00.000+10:30

Please welcome Kristyn. She sent me through this guest post, and of course it appealed to me, and I sense it will ring some bells with many of you too...

The weight is over...

It’s a bit daunting writing this post for Lucy’s blog after I haven’t contacted her in months. Deliberately. Why? Because I was embarrassed that I didn’t stick to what I told her I was going to do. It’s not like she was hounding me about it. I was just embarrassed.

A couple of months ago, I wanted to put my weight back on track. But I failed miserably. Instead I put another five kilos to what is already the excess weight the size of a toddler (yep, that’s literally). I felt like I was eating myself to my grave, down and depressed.

Two months ago, hubby signed me up to this seminar that I didn’t want to go to. But one of the things he mentioned, which pushed me a bit to try it out, was that I was supposedly going to find the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing to my body. I went and figured out some things about my life that I wanted to fix.

But the tools I got from the seminar didn’t translate to fixing myself physically. Again, I was disappointed. I didn’t know what else to do. I was in a slump.

Until one day.

Hubby went to that seminar too and has taken the advanced leadership training sessions. He came home one night and addressed the elephant in the room for the last eight years – my steady weight gain.

I reacted with fury, running to the kitchen, screaming at him for bringing it up. I was so surprised by my reaction and it was obvious how distressing it was for me. In the past, he would have backed off and dropped the topic. But this time he didn’t. He prodded, gently and lovingly, until I broke down crying – sobbing in his arms like a little child. I had a breakthrough.

After we placed MiniMe to bed, we sat on the couch facing each other, talking for hours about my weight gain. We spoke honestly and openly. And he waited for me to dig into myself and find out the reasons why I comfort eat or eat too much. We spoke about why two years ago I decided to stop my efforts even after I’ve already lost 10 kilos.

I told him I felt I was missing out on our party. You see, we used to drink. A lot. We could finish two bottles of wine and a bottle of bourbon in one night together. That was our weekend party, and although it has slowed down a bit to only half a bottle of bourbon or so, it still kept going. When I decided to get fitter two years ago after my mum had a stroke, I felt left out. He was still drinking merrily during weekdays and weekends while I stuck to my healthy choices. Eventually, four months after, I decided to join him in his world again. I didn’t feel supported because we had different lifestyles and so instead of pulling him into my world, I joined his.

He apologised for this because he didn’t know. I didn’t know either until we talked about it. The last two months, hubby has stopped drinking. We have no wines in our house, no bottle of bourbon, for the first time in eight years. He has started walking to the train station and has lost weight that he now fits into his old expensive suit (he’s one of those people who loses weight fast, damn bastard).

For the first time in a long time I feel like we’re on the same page about our health. Something clicked inside me but I can’t quite get a grasp of what it is. All I know is I’m noticing a difference. When we’re stressed (and believe me, we’ve been bombarded with major problems the last couple of weeks) we don’t grab for the bottle anymore.

For the last two weeks, I’ve gone to the gym three times each week, targeting to go for four days. In the past I’ve succumbed to comfort eating, now I’ve noticed myself grabbing for the bottle of water instead. I realised my reaction to put something in my mouth was triggered by stress (when I’m on deadline and scrambling to finish something), sadness, or anxiety. When I feel the need for sweets (I haven’t figured out a cure for sweet tooth yet), I’ve switched from chocolates, Tim Tams, and Wagon Wheels to fruits and nuts mix (loving the Lucky snack tub). I’ve switched from eating on a big plate to using my child’s bowls, limiting my intake. I’ve weighed myself and I have lost three of the five kilos I’ve added to my baggage. It’s a slow process but for the first time I’m confident it’s sticking.

I don’t claim to have the answer for it. I don’t know exactly what happened to me. All I know is that it seems to be working for me. For us. I still have a long way to go but I firmly believe that if we stay on this path, we’d get there together.

MummyK is a freelance journalist/photographer who just released her first ever self-published children’s book. She is a TV addict and loves zombie movies. She’s mum to one little girl and two dogs, and wife to an IT consultant/muso. She blogs at http://mummyk.com and tweets as @themummyk.

Eat chocolate and still lose weight...(Lindt Chocolate Giveaway)

2011-11-01T06:30:00.005+10:30

When I first started to lose weight, it became apparent that, in order to shed kilos, I would indeed have to relent, and give all the beautifully indulgent foods I loved. Including chocolate.

And of course, as soon as I told myself that I was "not allowed" chocolate, I felt like running to the shop and buying kilos of the stuff. The idea of deprivation is not a good one - it usually enhances cravings. The moment we are "not allowed" something, we want it all the more.

So right from the start of my weight loss journey, I have always always factored in some chocolate into my eating plan. You can eat chocolate and lose weight. Truly. How lovely and reassuring is that?!

My lovely husband made an interesting observation in relation to chocolate eating habits. If we eat cheap chocolate of a lesser quality, the tendency is to scoff a bucket load of the stuff, get toothache, and STILL not feel satisfied.

But, if we eat lovely high quality chocolate, I can eat just a small amount, and it tastes and feels sensational. I am totally happy and satisfied. All chocolate is not equal! (This is all to do with the percentage of cocoa solids that's in chocolate - the more cocoa solids in a chocolate, the more it hits the spot. Good quality chocolate has less sugar and less milk solids - so again, it hits the spot.)

As a result, I happily buy my "shoppers treat" once a week, which is Lindt Lindor Balls...

These keep me satisfied all week.

And of course, at Easter we have the Lindt Gold Bunnies. The kids ALWAYS eat these first. Always. Why? Because the are the nicest kind of chocolate.

So, I was very happy to find out that Lindt are introducing a new chocolate, especially for Christmas. The Lindt Teddy Bear - adorable, divine good quality chocolate, as cute as, utterly edible! Perfect!

He stands at about 7cm tall, and he is 100g worth of gorgeous Lindt choccy. Wrapped in gold foil with the signature little red collar (with a heart pendant this season, instead of a bell...) he is adorable. (He costs $5.49)

The Lindt Teddy Bear is available exclusively to Target stores across Australia, and Target are also running free in-store Lindt chocolate sampling. (Yes, you read that right - you can pop along to you local Target and sample free Lindt chocolate.)

Target are also offering exclusive an in-store promotion where you can get a free limited edition Lindt Teddy Bear USB - it's as cute as, and for once it might be a USB that doesn't get lost...

I don't buy a lot of chocolate, for me or the kids. I would rather buy a small and delicious amount of Lindt in comparison to a whole pile of the cheap stuff.

But instead of a small and delicious amount, I have a huge and delectable prize pack of Lindt chocolate to give away. The pack (valued at over $50 of chocolate) includes, of course, the Lindt Teddy Bear, in all his forms, as well as one of the Lindt Teddy Bear USB.

All you need to do to in with a chance of recieving this lovely treat is:

- Make sure you're following my blog
- Leave me a comment telling me why you'd like to win the Lindt prize pack
- Open to Australian residents only
- Giveaway closes Tuesday 8th November
- Winner chosen by Random.Org

For more opportuities to win this decadent prize pack, and to find out where the Lindt sampling sessions are where you live - the following bloggers are also running Lindt giveaways over the next little while -
Fat Mum Slim, Seven Cherubs, Everything is Edible and Superparents.

If you are in South Australia, the Lindt sampling events are being held at the following Target Stores:

Edwardstown, Saturday 3rd Dec 11am- 2pm
Fulham Gardens, Sat 3rd Dec 11am - 2pm
Adelaide City - Thurs 8th Dec 5pm - 8pm
Unley - Sat 10th Dec - 11am - 2pm
Marion - Sat 10th Dec - 11am - 2pm

For more details on Lindt, the Teddy Bears and on the Target exclusives, please see more here

Good luck!

Winner announced via email - Chantel

Roasted Pumpkin and Honey Soup

2011-10-31T05:53:00.002+10:30

I was at a conference this weekend, and for supper we were served a beautifully light and delicious soup. Without bread or butter or croutons. It was all I ate on Saturday evening, and it was SO satisfying and creamy. It felt incredibly comforting and decadent, but was so light and healthy and delicious.

Hence I am trying to replicate it, so that I can stash a batch in the fridge, for some very healthy light dinners for myself...

Roasted Pumpkin and Honey Soup

1 butternut pumpkin, cubed
1 red onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Spray oil
750 ml chicken stock
1 ½ tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste

Creamed low fat cottage cheese to garnish
Snipped chives to garnish

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Coat cubed pumpkin with oil, garlic and place on roasting tray.
3. Scatter onion throughout pumpkin.
4. Cook pumpkin and onion for 40 minutes or until golden and caramelised.
5. Heat stock and add cooked pumpkin, onion, honey, mustard, pepper and salt.
6. Simmer gently for 20mins
7. Blend until soup has a smooth consistency, either with a stick blender or in a processor
8. Garnish with the creamed cottage cheese and snipped chives.

If you have any really healthy but deliciously decadent tasting soup recipes, share with me?

Six years...

2011-10-30T14:49:00.002+10:30

For some reason, I have never blogged about my wedding. I have no idea why not, to be honest.

And today is our wedding anniversary.

The lovely husband and I have been together for fourteen years, and married for just six.

On this day six years ago, we made ourselves official, in front of family and friends. We chose to celebrate in an entirely secular fashion. We insisted upon no gifts, and threw a carnival of a party with face painters and fairy floss and bouncy castles...A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Olivia walked down the aisle with to us. She had only just learned to walk, bless her. It was magical and it made me cry, to see her toddle down the aisle towards us. In full flower girl regalia, she looked utterly heart melting, her red hair topped with a tiny crown of lily of the valley.

This Corner of the Earth

Charlie was only months old - I was a breastfeeding bride. He was, as he is now, easy, content and placid. Through the ceremony and reception he was passed to a hundred willing relatives for cuddles and he gurgled happily to all of them and then slept for hours. (Lexie was not even a twinkle in a our eye - she is horrified that she was the only one not at our wedding...)

The entire day was celebrated with sensational spring weather, in the Adelaide Hills. At an old country house with paddocks abound, we were wed. The food was rustic and delicious, and the wine free flowing. The band were so much fun, and we partied on and on and on.

It was one of the best days of my life. A Lovely Day.

And the very best bit? I got to marry a man who rocks my world entirely. He my best friend and he makes me smile just thinking about him. Together, we are cooler than just about anyone else I know.

Today, over a chaotic family lunch, he loaded up a whole stack of the songs that we played at our wedding. That he can remember them, and play them to me and the kids, is a mark of the man he is and how much fun he makes our world. We don't bother with an exchange of gifts on our anniversary. But we did have a smoochy dance around the kitchen together whilst the kids giggled at us. And exchanged kisses, like we do.

Someone Like You

The night Santa got busted...(free movie ticket giveaway!)

2011-10-28T18:30:00.016+10:30

Yesterday I posted a snap of my seven year old self. It reminded me of a whole host of other stuff that happened when I was that age.

We were a family of seven, all living in a very small, very creaky holiday shack in the middle of winter. It was a beach house right on the coast, in a tiny seaside village in West Sussex, in England. In the middle of winter. So all glorious family beach recollections can easily be replaced with much frostier memories. No sandcastles and swimmers. More like scarves and swift sea breezes against flint grey skies. But they were happy times.

The house was a rental. (From memory we were living there because we were 'between houses' - property settlement timings were evidently a horror then as they are now!) There were three small bedrooms for seven of us. I truly cannot remember where my older siblings slept. But my younger brother and I shared a room together. We were accustomed to this. Giggling and bickering at bedtime was the norm.

The carpeted hall outside our bedroom was long and reached the back door, which in turn stretched to the beach. When the winds were strong and winter coastal gales were headed in our direction, the high tide waves would edge closer and closer to the back door, seeping in. Carpet soaked. I recall many winter nights, snuggling, falling asleep, listening to the salt water creep and lap across along the hall carpet.

The crust of salt would be felt underfoot, with the damp, the next morning, along with the hiss of the gas fire, to try and dry out the carpet and keep us toasty.

Christmas time was spent in that house. Christmas Eve came, and my younger brother and I were hysterical in our excitement and anticipation - with me at age seven, my younger brother just five. I was at 'that age' of uncertainty as to whether Santa truly existed. Hopeful, but realistic.

I tried to keep myself awake that Christmas Eve, to try and figure out the whole Santa down the chimney, crinkling stockings on the end of the bed, presents under the tree mystery. Torn between my imagination and pragmatism.

I heard the creeping up the hall carpet. Sea water or Santa? A shadowy figure at the end of the bed who, I realised, smelled sweetly of Diorissimo. My Mummy. Gently laying rustling stockings stuffed with little pressies.

I scrunched my eyes tight shut, all of a sudden wishing I was asleep and hadn't spied her. I listened again as she crept back out of our room. I pulled the quilt up around my neck, and listened again.

I heard the creeping up the hall carpet. Sea water or Santa?

When and how did you find out that Santa had an apprentice?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have ten family movie passes to give away, to see the new Christmas Movie, Santa's Apprentice. Just make sure you are following my blog, and leave me a comment below?

SANTA'S APPRENTICE

In time for Christmas, the heart-warming festive themed animation, SANTA'S APPRENTICE dashes into cinemas everywhere from November 10!

With an all-star voice cast including Shane Jacobson, Magda Szubanski, Delta Goodrem and Hugh Sheridan, Santa’s Apprentice follows the story of young Nicolas (voice of Jack Versace), a 7 year old Australian boy on his adventure as he struggles with the ups and downs of being the next Santa Claus. It's a big responsibility that would scare even the bravest boy – but Nicolas wants to be the best Santa ever. So he will have to learn a few lessons along the way. Christmas has a way of making even the biggest mishaps alright and thanks to his loving mentors, Santa (Shane Jacobsen) and Waldorf (Hugh Sheridan), Nicolas learns, as we all do, the true meaning of Christmas!

SANTA'S APPRENTICE takes you to a place where wishes really do come true and proves that sometimes, happy endings are only the beginning!

Distributed by Becker Film Group, SANTA'S APPRENTICE is an Australian-French Coproduction by Gaumont-Alphanim and Avrill Stark Entertainment Pty Ltd with the participation of Flying Bark Productions Pty Ltd, Gaumont, Cartoon Saloon and ORANGE CINÉMA SÉRIES. Centre National de la Cinématographie et de l’Image Animée, Bord Scannán na hÉireann / Irish Film Board.

Dashing into cinemas everywhere November 10 http://www.santasapprentice.com.au/

Open to Australian readers only. Winners drawn at random. Closes Weds 2nd November.

Winners all informed via email.

The dreaded school photo day...

2011-10-27T13:19:00.000+10:30

Yes, this is me, in about 1976. Shocker.

Is it just me, or does everyone get cranky and stressed out over the annual dreaded school photo day?

This morning saw me screech at all three of my kids and act like a stage mother over the right angle of the pony tails, the right shade of blue for the hair band, whilst at the same time scrubbing Charlie's face red raw to make sure the yearly shot didn't feature the ~~Nutella~~ Vegemite he had on his toast for brekky.

I am now back home, shaking my head over the fact that I made Olivia have a shower and wash her hair this morning so I could braid her hair properly, even though she already had a bath last night. And I made them all wait till the last minute to get into their ~~freshly ironed by their neurotic mother~~ uniform, just in case they spilt juice down themselves.

I even supervised teeth brushing for the first time since last year, to make sure that no smears of toothpaste got wiped onto their shoulders.

Hell, I even started telling Charlie how to smile to try and diminish the great big gappy grin he's currently sporting as a result of standard six year old wobbly teeth loss.

I need to get over myself, seriously.

If you want a real laugh, just click on the below for some hilarious annual photos - gold, I tell you.

Edited to add - despite my best efforts, Lexie managed to get yellow paint splatters all down her uniform before the photos were taken. So we shall have a delightfully crafty shot of her. So what's new?!

Do you do the annual school photos from school? Did you share YOUR old school photos?

Netball, pasta, and a silver fox...

2011-10-27T05:46:00.000+10:30

On Monday evening I had the rare chance of a night out for dinner without children. Obviously I jumped at it. The dinner was hosted by San Remo, to celebrate the fact that the Australian Netball Diamonds were in Adelaide.

Now, there are a few good reasons for me to get a bit excited by this -

1. My eldest daughter Olivia, who is nearly 8, is ~~obsessed~~ keen by all things netball - playing it, practicing it, watching it - she is crazy about it. I played as a kid at school and adored it too...and as such I am loving that she is so mad about it.
4. My youngest daughter Lexie, at 5, is desperate to start Net Set Go, which is the starting point for all kids wanting to play netball, which is a joint venture between Netball Australia and San Remo
3. Despite the fact that I try to avoid carbs after lunch, I adore pasta. Hell, I adore carbs of any description, but particularly pasta.
3. I have a serious crush on Adam Swanson who is the San Remo brand ambassador chef. Three words - silver fox. Hot.

I had a brilliant night out. The food was sensational. I ate this, and it was truly divine. (The recipe is actually here - so I may well try and replicate it at home.)

More than all that though, I had the pleasure of meeting the Australian Netball Diamonds and seeing the passion in their eyes as they talked about the game, the team and the competition. It was inspiring and reminded me of how much I loved playing as a team, and why I am so grateful that my girls are discovering a love of the game too.

The Diamonds are playing New Zealand's Silver Ferns tonight, in Adelaide. I wish them the best of luck! I shall be watching on the TV, on the edge of my seat!

San Remo have kindly given me a San Remo Pasta Gift Pack to give away to one lucky reader - a pasta gift pack containing a whole stack of San Remo pastas, as well as an apron and cap.

All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment below, telling me your favourite pasta dish or your favourite silver fox - simple!

(Available to Australian readers only. Winner picked at random. Closing date Tuesday 1st November.)

Did you play netball as a kid? Do your kids play now?

Netball, pasta, and a silver fox...

2011-10-26T11:43:00.004+10:30

I had a brilliant night out. The food was sensational. I ate this, and it was truly divine. (The recipe is actually here - so I may well try and replicate it at home.)

More than all that though, I had the pleasure of meeting the Australian Netball Diamonds and seeing the passion in their eyes as they talked about the game, the team and the competition. It was inspiring and reminded me of how much I loved playing as a team, and why I am so grateful that my girls are discovering a love of the game too.

The Diamonds are playing New Zealand's Silver Ferns tonight, in Adelaide. I wish them the best of luck! I shall be watching on the TV, on the edge of my seat!

San Remo have kindly given me a San Remo Pasta Gift Pack to give away to one lucky reader - a pasta gift pack containing a whole stack of San Remo pastas, as well as an apron and cap.

All you need to do to enter is make sure you go an "Like" San Remo via their Facebook page and leave me a comment below, telling me your favourite pasta dish or your favourite silver fox - simple! (Available to Australian readers only. Winner picked at random. Closing date Tuesday 1st November.)

Did you play netball as a kid? Do your kids play now?

Online Competitions

Skylander and Spooky Buddies Winners

2011-10-26T06:18:00.002+10:30

The recent Skylander giveaway was won by Danni Beauty

And the Spooky Buddies giveaway was won by Being Me

Lovely ladies, if you could both email me your postal addresses and I will then organise your prizes to be sent out to you....

Buckets, wells and fences...

2011-10-25T20:30:00.000+10:30

I went out last night. Frocked up and off to dinner with a great group of bloggers.*
As always, one of the very best bits of the event was the interaction between other bloggers.
I am very very tired today as a result. Happy tired though.

I was lucky enough to spend some extra special time before the event with the beautiful Kelly from Be a Fun Mum, and the very lovely Sarah from Ah, the Possibilities.

Between coffee, chemists and grooming ourselves, we chatted about wells, fences and buckets.

As a result, I feel very much "topped up". My positive energy is charged.

How did you feel after your last interaction with another person? Did that person - your partner, best friend, coworker, blogger, or even a total stranger - "fill your bucket" by making you feel more positive? Or did that person "dip from your bucket," leaving you more negative than before?

Some people have a never ending well of generosity of spirit. The more they give in terms of time and grace and humour and conversation, they more they want to give, and the more charismatic they become and the more they attract positive things. Their well is contstantly refilling, as they fill others needs too.

It is tempting at times, for all of us, to put fences up, in order to try and protect ourselves and our territories and our own insecutities and our little space in the world. Very occasionally a neccessity. But often not - often just erected out of habit and fear.

I am determined to not create fences, but to be a well, a well that replenishes other peoples buckets.

How about you?

* Watch this space for more details on the dinner!

Cereal Box Craft...

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000+10:30

I have no shame in admitting that I once was a ~~lot~~ little bit into the idea of scrap booking. Instead of the traditional baby books, I scrap booked all of the photos of my children for the first two years of their lives. Then, I gave up with a sigh of relief. I have done the odd layout since, but there are ~~huge volumes and hundreds of dollars worth~~ a lot of crafty scrap booking supplies laying redundant in our house.

So, I let Olivia and Lexie help themselves to a whole heap of stuff the other day, and we set about some craft. They had a ball. I turned a blind eye to the glue and the snipping. Even Charlie got a little bit interested. (Only after I tore him away from the Wii. That is a whole other blog post...)

I had scoured Google earlier for some ideas, so here I give you our collection of cereal box craft:

Cereal Box Gift Bag (which Lexie now uses to cart all her Barbie bits and bobs around in...

Magazine holder made from a Cornflakes box...Olivia now has this in her room to hold all of her various colouring/activity books.

As it was school holidays a week or two back, we indulged in "little packets". And what better way to use the boxes than a hair band tidy in Olivia's room. (Saves me vacuuming the hair bands up. Hair bands all over the floor area constant irritation in my life...)

For any of these cereal box crafts, all you need is a stack of tape, glue sticks, embellishments and pretty papers. And scissors and a black marker and a ruler too. And of course, a healthy supply of cereal boxes.

And time and patience, obviously.

This fridge file is magnetically stucck to the fridge - so they kids can stick all the school/swimming/netball notes straight in there for me to ~~ignore~~ read.
Olivia and Charlie and Lexie are very proud of their creations. Next on the list, apparently, is a puppet show TV and a filing cabinet for all my ~~crap~~ fadmin paperwork.

And there was no glitter involved. Result.

PS This post is not sponsored by Kellogg's at all, but I was given a whole stack of Kellogg's cereal as a result of going to a brunch meeting with them.

Melt and Mix Smart Cookies...

2011-10-23T17:22:00.002+10:30

These are lower fat than usual cookies. And they're a melt and mix method - heaps easier on the arm - no creaming of butter and sugar, so I didn't bother to even get my mixer out.

They're packed full of low GI fibre and fruit, and use a lot less sugar than a standard cookie recipe.They're also low GI...so ideal for recess to keep energy levels high.

The recipe calls for no eggs, so it's an ideal biccie for kids school lunchboxes - my kids are (thankfully) not allergic to anything, but other children in their classes are, so I tend to be a little cautious...

I got the recipe off the back of a cereal box, and I've adapted it a little for ease. The kids love them, so they have become a very quick and easy Sunday afternoon baking job.

Melt and Mix Smart Cookies

2 cups Sultana Bran

1/4tsp bicarbonate soda
150g butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
1/2 cup orange juice
Zest of 1 orange or 2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

Melt the butter.
Mix all of the dry ingredients in mixing bowl until well combined.
Combine the butter, orange juice and vanilla essence and then add to the dry ingredients.
Stir well to combine.
Take a tablespoon of mixture, roll into balls, and place onto non-stick baking sheets and press down lightly with a fork.
Bake at 160`c for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets before transferring to wire cooling tray.
Store in an airtight container.

Makes approximately 24.

This is a rare healthy cookie recipe that my kids actually like...

Tell me your best healthy lunch box treat? Link me to a recipe?

Women friends...

2011-10-22T09:08:00.000+10:30

In a week where I have had no children through the days, and aside from some deadlines, no appointments, I was reminded of the importance of friends. And the importance of making time to see them.

So I have made the effort.

I made a list of those friends who are overdue a 'phone call.

To some overseas friends I have emailed them a proper chatter letter, rather than just clicking "Like" on a Facebook status.

I have left the odd message and text to those friends who I know are mad busy, just to let them know I am thinking of them.

We had friends over for a BBQ last weekend- their kids and ours ran wild together in the bush and came back tired and happy to devour sausages and bread with sauce. In between times we chatted, sipped, laughed and clinked. It was a riot - two families, children and parents: all firm friends. Easy. Social. Energy giving bliss.

I took a day off on Tuesday, for what my kids term a "Mummy Playdate". I met a friend and we went shopping. Handbags and shoes - my favourite kind of retail. We stopped for coffee, we perused the metaphysical store, and then had a glorious lunch together in the sun before hot footing it back to school to pick up the kids. Easy. Social. Energy giving bliss.

Yesterday I caught up with a friend who I had been missing for ages. She has small children and a career and is mid renovations and she lives on the other side of town. It's hard to co-ordinate. But we managed it. The venue was sensibly MacDonald's, which is positioned halfway between us, with half decent coffee and a play area for her little one. We had the time and space and inclination to catch up. Six months worth of news; challenges, wins, and laughter. It was good for my soul to see her, and I know she appreciated it as much as I did. Easy. Social. Energy giving bliss.

We have more friends coming around today. For a bowl of pasta and some ice cream - we will break bread together and laugh. She knows her way around my kitchen almost as well as I do. Hell, she knows my kids nearly as well as I do. We are so used to helping one another out, that we sometimes forget to just kick back and enjoy one another. Today, we will.

I still have a way to go. I still have coffees to arrange and nights out to organise. I have lovely friends. I am a lucky lucky girl. I need to make sure, as our lives get frantic and busy, that I do not let these friendships dwindle.

I am grateful for friends. They make my world a lovely place.

Linking up, as I do, to Maxabella.

When being overweight seems to work...

2011-10-21T06:03:00.003+10:30

I get a lot of emails, asking me a range of questions about dieting, weight loss, motivation and exercise.

These emails ask about specifics - and sometimes I get the impression that I am being asked to reply back with a definitive plan, or an exact formula, or a secret, to make weight loss easy.

I have lost a fair amount of weight. (About 40kg or about 85lb.) I still have a way to go. I am currently maintaining this weight loss and maintaining my body shape and fitness levels. So I guess that is why others might feel compelled to email me for advice? And I do feel touched when people tell me they are inspired and motivated by my efforts so far...

So I do usually give an overview of what has worked for me, and what I recommend someone else to try. It is no secret. Eat less calories, and move more. A daily intake of 1200 calories, and at least 45 minutes a day of exercise, plenty of water, plenty of sleep.

But here's the thing - I am guessing that most overweight people, including myself and anyone who emails me - we already know how to lose weight. We already KNOW we need to eat less and move more. We all already KNOW that a healthy balanced diet and plenty of exercise means that we will lose weight.

So why are there so many of us who are still overweight?

Why, when we know that an apple is the best option, do we sneak in a bar of chocolate instead? We know that is a bad choice, especially if we want to lose weight, but we manage to justify it anyway?

If we KNOW that regular daily exercise is great for weight loss, why don't we do it? Why do we make up excuses to not do something that we know if effective for losing weight?

If we have clear ideas on what we want to look like and how great we would feel at a healthy weight, why are we still overweight?

If we are goal orientated and can realise the benefits of a healthy, fit body, why do we drag our heals and not move toward this?

Why do we persist in behaviours that keep us overweight?

I'll tell you why - somehow, being fat is working for us. Eating too much is giving us a payoff of some kind. There is, in some way, a benefit to being the size we are.

Some how, some way, for some reason, our brains and bodies are getting a message that being overweight is working for us.

If I try and analyse this in myself, I find myself uneasy and confused by the utter mind-fuckery that this concept presents. What on earth is it that makes my brain so happy to hold onto the idea that being fat is actually benefiting me in some way?

Off the top of my head -

Overweight is safe
Overweight hides me
Overweight plays down my abilities
Overweight calms me down
Overweight slows my frantic brain
Overweight forces me shine in non-physical ways
Overweight gives me a (~~false~~) sense of abundance
Overweight gives me something else to blame if I fail
Overweight is a well know habit

Wow. I need to look into all this a little more I think.

How about you? Are you are overweight despite knowing exactly how to lose weight? Can you identify with what I am saying here?

Do you 'do' Halloween? (And another giveaway...)

2011-10-20T06:30:00.003+10:30

Growing up in little tiny villages in England, as a child, Halloween was a big deal.

The evening before All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) was a mark of a turn of the seasons, a mark of the end of harvest time. Perhaps with pagan origins, certainly some Christian origins, as kids, we celebrated big time by "guising".

This involved dressing up with all the other kids in the village and telling spooky stories and singing to our neighbours in order to earn treats. Idle threats of tricks may have been made and quickly dismissed. Our dress ups were usually nothing more fancy than a sack or a cloak, and often the treats were apples. Apple bobbing was always the culmination - in someones kitchen, safe and warm, with water being sloshed all over the lino floor as we fought for apples with our mouths.

In more recent times, it seems Halloween celebrations has become all about the lollies and chocolate and commercial costumes and parties and elaborate decorations and loot bags. I am not sure how? But I know the shops are full of pumpkins and masks and orange plastic stuff...and lots of chocolate and packets of lollies!

Olivia, Charlie and Lexie, are all seduced by all the promise of abundant sugary prizes. They are intrigued by the concept of it all, the glamour of the lit pumpkins and the general air of partiness. The concept of running through the streets in dress ups is so novel to them, they are entranced the idea of it.

Previously, I have never entertained the thought of celebrating Halloween particularly.

But this year they have nagged my ears off.

So I am relenting.

We won't be cruising the streets in witches and skeletons costumes.

But we will play dress ups at home. I may even try my hand at some face painting.

I am going to carve out a pumpkin and light a candle inside.

I am going to introduce them to the delights of apple bobbing.

I am going to cook up some spooky Halloween treats. (Bat shaped biccies?!)

And I will let them stay up and settle down for a "Spooky" movie on the couch.

Tell me, do you do Halloween? Do you have any Halloween traditions to share with me?

In celebration of Halloween, I have the brand new Spooky Buddies Blu-ray and DVD Value Pack (RRP $49.95) and a Buddies plush toy (RRP $14.95) to give away...as well as a $25 Woolworths Gift Card (to buy some lollies and a pumpkin!) and a Halloween party pack full of Halloween games, recipe and costume suggestions!

All you need to do to enter is make sure you are following my blog, and leave a comment telling me YOUR Halloween traditions.

Open to Australian residents only. Giveaway closes Tues 25th October - winner will be picked at random.

Screen time...? (Sensational Giveaway...)

2011-10-18T17:23:00.000+10:30

In an ideal world, me and my perfect mothering and my perfect children would not watch much TV, nor play on the Wii, nor get addicted to Angry Birds on the iPhone, or indeed the new Skylanders Spyro's Adventures.

But, my personal work and hobby is via a computer. I write, I blog, I Twitter, I tip tip tap on my computer at any given opportunity.

When the girls get home from school, they want to chill out and tune out for an hour or so, in front of kids shows or DVD's.

And Charlie? My boy Charlie is a gamer. Extraordinaire.

At the ripe old age of six, he is an expert. His platform of choice is the Wii (especially since his legend mother fixed it!). He has conquered Harry Potter Lego, Sonic, Cars II, Super Mario Brothers, Toy Story and Madagascar.

The lovely husband is in IT and has always been into gaming. And even he is astounded at Charlie's instinctive ability to manipulate controls, strategize better than a chess master, and persevere with game scenarios.

I was given a sneak preview a month or so back, of the new Skylanders Spyro's Adventuress. It's a game that plays on ALL the platforms - so it doesn't matter whether you're a Wii family or one that prefers XBox or a DS or a Play Station - the game plays on them all.

It's not just a computerised game on a disk either - the concept that persuaded me to attend the preview was because of the interactive little game figurines that are integral to the game. The little heroes literally come to life via "portal of power" and whilst the human player controls the game, the little characters dramatically influence the way that levels are won and lost.

The "Skylanders" figures are an integral part of the game because they store their characters' entire history inside. But they are also small enough and certainly sturdy enough to get tucked into the pockets of little boys shorts and played with at school....

Anyway, Charlie is TOTALLY addicted. He LOVES IT! We have watched him, with amused fondness as he spends a few hours at a time engrossed with Skylanders. (Should I ration it?!)

I am glad he loves it so much. It's an early Christmas pressie to him.

But I am torn too - he loves it so much - he leaps around and is certainly not passively vegging out. Should I restrict the time he spends in front of a screen?

He comes home from school, after also spending an hour at cricket practice, and then winds down with an hour playing another game he is evidently passionately keen on. Skylanders. Where's the harm? I love that he's mad about it. I love the peace!

I have a full Skylanders Spyro's Adventures Starter Pack, for XBox 360, up for grabs as a giveaway - thanks to the makers of the game, Activision. This comes with three of the action characters (toys with brains) and also the "portal of power" and also the game itself. (RRP $99)

If you would like to win this, all you need to do is make sure you are following my blog and then leave me a comment giving me an example of your screen addiction!

Open to Australian residents only. Winner will be drawn at random. Entries close midnight Sunday 23rd October, and the winner will be announced on this blog.

This is not a sponsored post but I did attend a preview demo of the game and I was sent the game to trial out with Charlie...the opinions in this post are entirely my own (and Charlie's!).

Lion King Winner...

2011-10-18T07:15:00.000+10:30

Thanks for all the hilarious comments to the recent Lion King giveaway. Seeing what you were all up to in 1994 was fascinating!

The winner is:

Carla/Jen from Unedited Motherhood

"Wow, 1994 was a big year. Finished high school and lost my virginity to my first serious boyfriend. Round about that time he took me to see the first Lion King. Still remember when one guy hits the other on the head with a stick. "What did you do that for" next guy, "doesn't matter it is the past now". Thought it was hilarious."

Carla/Jen, can you please email me with your postal address and I will arrange for your prize to be sent off to you.

First Day...

2011-10-17T22:54:00.000+10:30

I am late to post today.

I have been busy, tired and a little emotional.

Proud.

Lexie started school full time today.

I sent three little children off with their big bags full of lunchbox.

She rocked it. Her first day and she loved it.

I missed her.

But she is so happy.

And so am I.

How to get a good nights sleep...

2011-10-16T06:13:00.000+10:30

I am not sleeping very well at the moment. I am waking in the night and then finding it ~~hard~~ virtually impossible to get back to sleep.

So I am on a mission this coming week to fix my own sleep issues.

Here is what I know works - I just need to apply it!

Exercise for at least 30 minutes four times a week - this not only enhances a sense of well-being (which generally helps you sleep better) but also naturally physically tires you out and assists in getting a deeper sleep.

Get an early night at least three times a week (9.30pm). The sleep before midnight is worth more than the sleep after midnight. Your liver function operates much more efficiently if you are resting in the evening, so you wake up with more energy.

Drink two litres of water a day - and drink as much water as you can as early as possible. If you can drink at least 6 out of the 8 glasses before lunch, so much the better - this really flushes your system of toxins. In turn, the next night’s sleep will be better.

A healthy balanced diet that consists of lean meats, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables will always be the ideal diet. Everything in moderation is the key. But be wary of what you are eating after 6.30pm. In an ideal world, your evening meal should be finished by this time.

Of course, a little snack in the evening is normal - and by choosing the right kind of evening snacks, you can actually help your sleeping patterns. Choose foods that contain either the amino acid tryptophan, or foods that naturally contain niacin (one of the nutrients contained within the vitamin B group of vitamins.)

Examples of ideal evening snacks are:

Grapes
Cherries
Yoghurt
Oatmeal
Warm Milk and honey
A small handful of peanuts or almonds or cashews, or a slice of wholemeal toast spread with peanut butter

Foods to avoid - chocolate – sorry!

Drinks to avoid - anything containing caffeine - so no coffee, tea or cola. (Herbal tea such as peppermint or chamomile is an ideal replacement.)

So tell me - what are YOUR best sleep tips?

The end of an era...

2011-10-14T20:30:00.002+10:30

I want to hold onto these last few days of the holidays.

On Monday, all three of my children will be going back to school.

No more lazy stay at home days for me and my children.

For the past seven and a half years I have almost wished away the days until they were all in school.

In the early days of three under three, I entered all of their start dates into my email calendar. It seemed, then, under the grind of nappies, toilet training, constant mess and toddlers, like a lifetime away.

If truth be told, the yawning boredom and the mundane grind of those early days were excruciating and nearly saw me lose my mental grip. It was not hard, as such. But was dull and monotonous and sometimes soul destroying. And no matter how much I knew that it would eventually get easier, the future seemed a long long time away.

The future has crept up on me. As each milestone has been reached; as each birthday has been celebrated, and as each "stage" has been dealt with, it gradually must have got easier. Who knew. It was so gradual. The volume of nappies has reduced. The high-chair was given away. Sippy cups replaced by mugs. Plastic baby plates replaced by normal crockery. The sling and the nappy bag replaced by a handbag and nothing else.

The strollers have all been passed on, as have the baby puzzles and the Shape-O toy.

The cot has been designated to the garage, along with the travel cot and the sets of Little People.

All three can read and write. They can swim and ride a bike. I have one who can cook a meal from scratch, another who can tie their shoes and tell the time, and another whose problem solving and social skills simply blow me away. They grab a shower by themselves and brush their teeth un-nagged. They dress themselves and make their own breakfasts.

If I could freeze a stage of my parenting life, it would be now. Right now. Before I lose them all to school.

It is truly an end of an era, for me, for the lovely husband and our three littlies, who are not so little anymore.

I am sad, I am glad, I am sad, I am glad.

But most of all I am so very grateful that chance and circumstance and hard work have enabled me to be at home with them for all this time. (Lovely husband, you made this possible for us, and I owe you big time. You are a gift that I never presume to take for granted.)

What are you grateful for this week?

Linking up with Maxabella Loves...

Out of the glut rut...

2011-10-13T06:00:00.001+10:30

I was in the supermarket the other day, and one of those sample ladies accosted me - with a locally made balsamic beetroot relish. It was sensational. Utterly delicious.

I was candid with her and told her I would not be buying any from her. She looked surprised - and I explained that we have a glut of beetroot ready to come out of our garden. (The lovely husband and his gluts are well known...)

Luckily we all, including the kids, love beetroot.

So this weekend I took yet another bucket of beetroot from the garden of my lovely husband, and tried to replicate the balsamic beetroot relish I tried in the supermarket.

Beetroot Relish

Ingredients

• 1.5kg fresh beetroot, top and tailed and peeled
• 3 brown onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
•1cup white vinegar
• 80ml (1/3 cup) fresh orange juice
• 250g caster sugar
• 300g brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon mixed spice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Chop beetroot into quarters and place in a large baking dish, covered in foil.

3. Bake for an hour until beetroot is soft
4. Place onion, apple, vinegar, orange juice, sugar and spices in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

5. Process the cooked beetroot until roughly chopped – not a fine puree.
6. Add the beetroot to all other ingredients and simmer for an hour, until the mixture thickens slightly.

7. Spoon the hot relish into sterilised jars. Seal.

Enjoy on burgers, with cold meats, or in sandwiches. Or on a cracker with some goats cheese or Philadelphia...

Tell me, beetroot - do you love it or hate it?

♫ Hakuna Matata! ♫ (Review and Giveaway!)

2011-10-12T06:00:00.009+10:30

Way back when, in 1994, I was managing a restaurant close by to a huge cinema complex. And whilst I was partying hard in my off duty hours, many of my colleagues was married with children. They were all crazy about Disney's "The Lion King". I can remember them all going to see the movie and raving about the animations, the characters, and the music. (Them, and their kids. It was full on Lion King mania back in 1994...)

At the time, I shook my head, lit another cigarette, took another slug of my beer, and wondered whether I would ever be interested in Disney movies, and whether I would ever be a parent who had littlies to take to the movies, and indeed whether I would ever actually enjoy those Disney movies as much as my kids did...?

Seventeen years ago! Imagine!

Little did I realise I would indeed be rounding my kids up and getting totally beside myself with excitement at the idea of settling down for a viewing of the very same movie: The Lion King, re-released and digitally remastered into 3D.

It was marvellous. I cried. (I cried a number of times actually.) So did Olivia. They were all glued, and they adored the music.

The animation (which must have been utterly revolutionary back in 1994>) is still remarkable. The music is sensational.

There are so many levels and themes to this movie - responsibility, friendship, love, integrity - the circle of life. It appealed to me just as much as it appealed to the kids.

The DVD/Blu-Ray of the new version of The Lion King is released TODAY!

To celebrate this, I have a Lion King Gift pack worth $140 to give away...

The pack includes Lion King Diamond Edition Blu-ray and DVD, Lion King 48 Piece Puzzle, Lion King Soundtrack CD, Lion King Book and CD, Lion King Plush, Lion King CD Read Along Book, Lion King Mini Collection Activity & Storybook, Lion King Shaped Board Book

To enter to win this Lion King gift pack, all you need to do is:

Make sure you are following my blog
Leave a comment below, telling me what you were up to in 1994!
The giveaway is open to Australian residents only.
Entries close at 5pm Adelaide Time Sun 16th October 2011
The winner will be drawn randomly

PS This is not a sponsored post. But I was sent a copy of the DVD to preview with the kids...and of course the opinions I share above are entirely my own. (If I get sent movies which the kids or I do not enjoy, I simply don't post about them!)

Conflict resolution...?

2011-10-11T06:15:00.003+10:30

I have three imperfect children, who I adore. But they also drive me mad.

School holidays are a time when their closeness in age, and their ability to manage their own emotions as well as sibling conflicts, is virtually impossible. For me and them.

Child 1, the moment she is tired or bored will become a whiner. Her speech alters, as does her ability to listen to reason. Unable to see the big picture through tired eyes, she will hone in on the minutiae of an argument, and then whine until she gets her own way. Or cry pathetically, as she continues to attempt to get her own way. It sets my teeth on edge and makes me want to scream. (Which I do, sometimes. Once, after having an afternoon full of whining, I ended up losing my temper and I threw a little chair at a tree in the garden. And yes, I do appreciate that I am not sending a very good example here. Perfect mother I am not...)

Child 2 is laid back. He handles pretty much most things. He is a content middle child. But I realise he operates on a slow burn. And when he finally realises he is being left out/neglected/wound up/treated unfairly, he snaps. He does not suffer fools well. I can see his fists clench and his anger rise. He goes red and I can just tell he has a fury waiting to explode. Instead of lashing out, his anger results in tears of utter frustration. He takes himself immediately, howling, to his room, where he punches the shit out of some godawful Sponge Bob cushion that collects dust under his bed. Twenty minutes later, after a nice good sulk, he reappears, as if nothing has happened.

Child 3 is a drama queen. She is a performer. She is the dibber dobber. She is the manipulator. The wheedler. Or, she yells and cries and runs away the moment anyone doesn't do as she plans. She has perfected the art of the screechy uncontrollable tantrum. She verbalises her frustrations by hollering phrases such as "you are the worst Mumma I ever had!" and flounces off, crying loudly and dramatically - she often opens her bedroom window so that the neighbours can get first class audio of her production. She then either writes all over her bedroom walls or falls asleep. (I hope for the latter...)

They are perfectly imperfect. But normal, I dare say. Tired, hungry, lacking in stimulation, lacking in attention from me, lacking in their usual routine. Overstimulated, too much choice, too much screen time, too much junk food. Lacking in one on one time, missing Dad. Whatever the reasons, and the reasons vary, it can all end up, some days, with a little bit of chair throwing of some kind...

They are developing methods of managing their own conflicts and frustrations. Kind of. They test each other, and me. It drives me mental, but I am also fascinated at how their different personalities implode...

I have no idea of the right or wrong way to parent these habits. Should I go with the flow? Or try and make them calm and rational? Is that even ever possible? Should I bribe and cajole? Or are they just kids being kids? Just put up with it and throw a chair at a tree at the end of the day? How will these methods and traits manifest into adult personalities?

Tell me, how do you help your kids manage their conflicts and frustrations? How to you manage your own? Or do you just put up with it and chuck the odd chair about, and hope for the best?