a very scary post

for me anyway....

deep breath....

I think I'm finally serious about shedding some kilos, it's a weird thing for me to admit, because I really don't have any "body image" issues. I'm not unhappy the way I am, I've never felt uncomfortable in my own skin, so I've never felt the need or urge to do anything about the size of my bum.

I'm actually lighter than I have been in a long time, when I was pregnant with Big Boo I lost quite a bit of weight and hardly put any of that back on, then I lost more again when I was pregnant with Mini Boo.

I guess what's spurred me on was how good I felt once I'd recovered from giving birth to Mini Boo, I was wearing clothes that I'd never worn (working in apparel for over 10 years meant a lot of sample sales and there was a tendency to buy a lot of shit....and let's face it, a lot of it was just that!). Of course a few months on, the shine has worn off slightly, with all the day to day kid wrangling, etc.

So, as an incentive to myself, I'm putting my self imposed weight loss challenge out there for anyone who happens to read this post (which I know isn't many!) I'm not looking to lose half my body weight and let's face it, with 2 niblets I don't have time for any fancy exercise routines or classes. It'll just be a gradual chipping away of the BMI....and maybe I'll be able to fit into all those size 14's I got when working for Seduce/Katherine/Blue Juice....because I have some seriously gorgeous coats and dresses from them!....AND I also have drawers and drawers full of gorgeous fabric I'd love to sew up into non-sack like pieces....or even if they are sacky tunics, I won't look like a sack in them.

Anyway, here goes....I've made the picture small so it's not so scary! (hmm, this might also be an incentive to keep my toenails painted and pretty too)

Operation Green Bin

More housey stuff....

Our sloping block means that our "backyard" (most of it's really a "sideyard") is broken up into 3 distinct areas.

This bit is at the back of the house, very shaded with a little paved area up top that will eventually have a cubby house on it. The shade will be invaluable in summer, somewhere for the niblets to run amok out of the sun. Have to do something about the lack of lawn though.

Head down the "cranky stairs" as Boo calls them and you come to a paved section with garden beds around the edges....this is also the starting point for OPERATION GREEN BIN.

And down from there again is a large grassed area, where the "pirate ship" resides (come on, you can tell it's a pirate ship, right? - oh and excuse the washing, necessary evil)

Anyway, back to what I'm calling Operation Green Bin....

I'm missing my herb garden. I've been quietly obsessed with herbs since my mid teens, growing as many rare and interesting varieties as possible (very uncool, I know). I can't cope paying $2-3 for a bunch of herbs that aren't straight from the garden, half of which end up getting chucked, a wilted mess in the bottom of the fridge. I love just wandering out to the garden and picking a few fresh leaves of this and sprigs of that to add to dinner. Nothing beats fresh herbs. To me there's nothing more amazing than the smell of stomped on lemon thyme or brushed past basil.

So, in an effort to get the herbs growing again and make cooking more fragrant, I'm determined to send the green bin up the drive each fortnight, full of crap I've cut down from around the paved area of the yard! Nothing particularly exciting, a big job (some of the beds are thick with Nandina, which is really invasive and will need more than my trusty secateurs) but not exciting to most....just something that's going to give me back my place of zen, being in amongst my smelly, yummy leaves.

Some progress and a 3 year old

Looking back at my last post the title doesn't really make any sense, I have no idea where I might have been going with that one...anyway.

I'll start with the cute kids(and daddy) pic....apologies for the fuzziness, I'm a terrible photographer and we have a rubbish little happy snap camera.

There's been lots going on, Boo turned 3 and we had a party (and I didn't take any pics, I was so busy, DAMN IT), we've been unpacking and getting things done around here...there's still soooooo much to do, but we're getting there. Discovered a great farmers market up at The Entrance, I was really surprised to find most things the same price or cheaper than the supermarkets, and it's all organic. Definitely be making the effort to get up there as often as we can.

We've sort of got 2 rooms "finished" there are still pictures to put up on walls and a few little things to do, but over all I'm so happy with how they've turned out.

James' Room before and after

Hugh's room before and after

AND I've even managed a spot of knitting, it's going to be a Tea Leaves, I'm sort of KAL'ing with Mel and Bianca....2 people far more creative than I am!

Mother of the year (not)

We've been in the house about 5 weeks now and things are still all over the place, my days are spent niblet wrangling and there's not a lot of unpacking or re-organising going on. This is driving me a bit mental, because the place is a mess and I never seem to be able to find anything, because I have no idea where things were in the first place.

Boo started his new kindy and seems to be enjoying it, he loves the horse and goat that live in the field beside the outside play area. I'm really pleased with my choice of kindy, it's in a lovely green secluded spot, where you can still hear the bellbirds over the sound of playing children.

Potty training for Boo had gone by the way with the move and new bub, but has resumed with brilliant results, he's doing so well considering all the upheaval. So as a reward for an accident free day I cracked open a packet mix of biscuits I had for some unknown reason, Boo helped make them with me. It was an exercise in finding baking things and also a great chance to see if the oven had any hot spots because I hadn't baked in it yet.

They didn't turn out too badly either.

The mini boo is now 8 weeks old, it's all gone so quickly, he's smiling and giggling at us, half rolling himself over already. Boo is still loves being a big brother and doesn't stop with the kisses and cuddles

It's really lovely.
If only things were tidier and more organised....it'll happen eventually.

Exploring

After a couple of weeks couped up in the new house, unpacking, reorganising, feeling overwhelmed by how much crap we have, etc....venturing out only for groceries, Hubby declared on Sunday we escape for some family time away from half painted walls and piles of boxes. We all really needed it.

Boo declared he wanted a sausage in bread, so we headed for Bunnings, needed to price up some bathroom bits and bobs anyway.

Sausages downed, we stopped off at the Sensory Park, just down the road from us in Narara. Boo had an awesome time riding his scooter around the tracks and over the bridge, he just didn't stop, while we strolled along behind him, bub fast alseep in his stroller.

It's so close, I really have to make the effort to take the boys down there again and more often....although, I'm not sure if I can keep up with speedy scooter boy.

February 2012

New bub, new house, new location, new everything!

So new manifesto/ plans/ goals for the year ahead:
• Get this new house unpacked and sorted (HA!)
• Make it a happy place for Hubby, Boo and Mini Boo….and Me.
• Don’t buy ANY yarn, for at least 6 months, anyway. (Ravelry says I have about 140k metres in my stash….FUCK!!!)
• Get the Ravelry project count to 70 and finish/frog all the WIPs.
• Watch the pennies, being on one wage again is a scary prospect, but we’ve done it before, we can do it again.
• Keep saving, even though we’re on one wage.
• Shop smarter and plan meals.
• Embrace the slow cooker – especially for making stock.
• Try making jam/ chutney.
• Learn how to use less of everything.
• Have a weekend away, just Hubby and I, once mini boo is a bit less newborn.
• Get composting.
• Plant a herb garden.
• Plant some fruit trees for next season and a passionfruit vine.
• Learn how to put in a zipper.
• Use the zipper knowledge to sew some fancy pants clothes for ME!
• Lose some excess kgs, so I look spiffy in the new fancy pants clothes.
• Get all brutal with my wardrobe and get some major piffage happening.
• Do the nutrition course I’ve wanted to do for ages.
• Make a zillion Christmas decorations for this year’s tree. (damn you Pintrest)
• Get back into doing yoga and learn how to move again.
• Take better care of myself – for everyone’s sake, not just mine.
• Drink more water, bucket loads more than I do now!
• Try to do something creative every day.
• Basically re-invent myself….pfft.

I would have posted something like this in January, but let’s face it, that entire month was pretty much a write off….with the new bub, recovering from the birth (things didn’t go so smoothly for me) and packing to move.

There'll be photos of the house soon, once we get rid of some more boxes and bags of crap.
Here's a pic of the Magnolia at the top of our drive, flowering last year....it's almost ready to flower again and I can't wait.
 

hello little one....

James was born 13th January, which also happened to be a Friday....nothing unlucky about this little guy, he's perfection.

 And his big brother loves him to bits....

We're moving to the "big house" next week, so once things settle down a bit more and we're unpaked, I'm hoping to post a lot more....hoping.