Happy New Year

From my family to you all I wish you the very best for a wonderful and fullfilling New Year.

PS We have all just been enjoying an afternoon of swimming and thus the attire.

Nothing like setting myself a few goals

With 2010 almost over I thought that I would set myself some goals, hopefully achievable.  So without saying here is my list for 2011.  (They are in no particular order)

• definitely go on regular date nights
• maintain and fine tune fitness, health and wellbeing
• increase the number of everyday recipes I can make that the whole family enjoys
• make a recipe book
• put the finishing rouches to the last two years of P365 so I can print them out into a hard bound book.
• Essence is my word for the year.  I fully intend to investige this for me. (Watch for a blog post to come)
• I know this one is a bit odd but with the challenges our disabled son brings our life we need to work out how to socialise more.  So that is it socialise more
• read more. 
• put the fun back in life by creating fun family moments
• take a trip to oz
• organise work for 2012...yes I know that is 12 months away but it will take that long to train someone to help with Hayden and then to find a place to work in town.

That it.  What more could I fit in really?

Wordless Wednesday 29 December 2010

The last Wordless Wednesday of the Year.  Can you believe it?

I am linking to My Little Drummer Boys

Monday Menu 27 December

My last menu for 2010.  I just dont know where the year has gone.

Monday  pot roast meat cooked in the slow cooker with salad

Tuesday  beef wrap

Wednesday  easy vegetable curry

Thursday  korma vegetable curry  (this recipe with a korma curry paste)

Friday  Macaroni and vegetable soup

Saturday  lamb chops (on the bbq) with baked potato and salad

Sunday  chicken kebab with salad on egg noodles

I think I might just do it.

I  am always setting myself goals at the beginning of the year.  Yes I am goal driven but hopefully it also keeps me focussed.  For me food, fitness and motivation are always on the list, usually under the same bullet point.

This year though I am very proud of myself because I think I might just achieve a good level of fitness (well for me anyway) and consequently my thin wardrobe is going to get a work out this summer.

I know that I fluctuate and at times my thinking persuades me that it is ok not to exercise, not to plan my menus ahead but deep down I know that I need to do both of these things.  I have got past the fact that I think I cant run while push the 33kg (buggy and DS2) but guess what I can and I am doing it.

I even scrapped booked about excersizing while the children where at school.

Credits can be found here.

 That was way back in March 2010.  It has taken me all this time to accept that I have no easy solution and enough with the excuses.

Now to add a few more new recipes to my list of can do and all like list and next year I will be looking at maintaining things at my happy level.

Naturally there will be challenges as I know I am an emotional eater but I am determined that I can over come this.  Perhaps I can just make sure I cook in advance when I am working and DH is away.

So here three of us are,  DD did not want to be take part in our photo moment, DS2 in the buggy still with medication to finish, DS3 with his bike ready to go and ofcouse me all ready.

My Favourites for 2011

This year has had some great finds I thought that I would share just five of my favourites



My favourite music find

Cold Play - Left Right Left Right album not only is it live but you can officially download it for free.


My favourite new find restaurant

Secret Thai Garden


My favourite christmas site find

The White Envelope


My favourite quote

You don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when.  You can only decide how you're going to live.  Now.  by Joan Baez

My favourite discovery about me

I can stand in front of the camera and not just behind.  This now means that my image and not only my words is being recorded for properity.

Just take a look.  This photo was taken in October

My favourite exercise

Running.  Can you believe it.  I am doing the C5K plan and really enjoying it.  Have my shoes and ipod and off I go.  I use this music not because I like it but because I can run to it.

Wordless Wednesday 22 December

So Santa is a decoration on our tree that my husband got in Frankfurt a couple of years ago.  This year my children have decided to stage santa in a scene.  At this moment he is grabbing presents.  They are having a great time deciding the story behind each scene

I am linking to My Little Drummer Boys.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Monday Menu 20 December

A little late posting but here it is.

Monday  Leftovers, cold meat, potatoes and salad.  Now my fridge is emptier.

Tuesday  One pot italian beef stew

Wednesday  Chicken and Advocdo wraps

Thursday  Chicken curry pasta

Friday  goats cheesea and bacon pizza

Saturday  Chirstmas day   I am taking some nibbles.  Fresh fruit and vege with a curried yoghurt dip.  I hope everyone else is thinking light food as I have lost 3kg of late and am trying hard to stay that way over this time.

Sunday  bacon and pumpkin pizza

Merry Christmas to you all

Holidays have begun.

Here in New Zealand the summer holiday have just begun.  As I am a teacher that also means I am on holiday.  So the children and I have made a list of things we can do during the holidays.  Things that we can affort and they would like to do.  Perhaps even discover some new tradition for our summer holdiays.

So here it is the wish list for the holdiays.

• bake / make icecream at home
• take photos and print them
• swimming at the pool
• swimming at the beach and go boggy boarding
• collect pipis at the beach
• box carting
• hiking - find a new place
• movies
• art n craft day
• read a book day
• ride bikes at the park.
• science experiments
• go out for lunch
• ice cream sundays
• boards games
• a spa day.

I hope the list does not grow any longer I think there is enough fun packed into this list to last our holidays.

Wordless Wednesday 15 December

Andre performing his part of the puppet show he did with his reading group at school.

I am linking up to Little Drummer Boy

Lists

I am a list person.  I have one big list that covers many things and at this time of the year the list is longer than usual.  Added to the usual must do things that Christmas brings upon us we have all the Hayden must do things before the festive season shuts down many businesses for a couple of weeks.  It would be awful to run out of any part of his medication.  We are also hosting Christmas for my inlaws at DH is going to be away for Christams an early Christmas for us.

I know many people would be saying I need to have an electronic diary.  Trust me, I thought long and hard about one of these and apart from making my handbag lighter I am not sure that there are too many other benefits.  I need to be able to see more than one page at once.  I keep not only Haydens important to know information but the days DH is away and home on his work roster, the days that I am working plus all those other to do things that crop up in everyday life.  I need a full page for each day and my system requires colour coding with hilighters and instant access to months gone by.  Of course I write everything down.  Without doing that I find it hard to sleep as I keep waking up thinking that I must remember this that and the other thing.

So roll on the finishing of the lists so that I can get in the groove of more of this kind of life during the long summer holidays.

Monday Menu 13 December

My last week of work before the summer holidays.  Oh I can't wait for the holidays to arrive.  Anyway we have a couple of Christmas functions to go to this week so my menu is going to look a bit bare.

Monday  Sweet and Sour Stirfry  This week I have used Bok Coy for the first time to expand the children pallet.  It is seasonally cheap here too.

Tuesday  goats cheese and bacon pizza with green salad

Wednesday  Thai curry stirfry

Thursday  chicken wraps

Friday  Flafels and salad

Saturday  Christmas with my family I am taking a fresh fruitsalad made with strawberries, watermelon and pineaplle.

Sunday  We are hosting Christmas for my husabands family as he is going to be away in London with work on Christmas Day.

P365 November 2010

Finally here are my pages for this project

week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

All products on these pages come from Weeds and Wildflowers. 

My Advent Activites

This years advent activities have evolved a little more.  I am trying to do the fun stuff and the reason for the season things too.

So here is the list just incase anyone was interested.  I would be keen to find out anything else that people do that I could think of adding to my list of activities.

• Light the advent candle
• Try and be really kind and helpful today.Secretly choose a special
• Someone and do something for them without them knowing.
• Sing lots of Christmas Carols
• Spend the evening reading Christmas books
• Visit Santa and have your photo taken with him
• Christmas baking
• Lets make a Christmas decoration
• Visiting a special light display at night.
• Organise a gift for a neighbour
• Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn\
• Make a pine cone wreath
• Make a gift for Grandparents
• Decorate the christmas tree
• Lets go Christmas Shopping
• Lets picnic under the Christmas tree
• Find the best Christmas website
• Make reindeer food
• Post letter to Santa
• Write letters to Santa
• Secretly gift to someone. Try and think of some special way to do this.
• Try and do a chore for someone else with letting them know that you have done it.
• Decide how to spend our charity money jar.
• Read the birth of Christ story
• Tell the nativity story
• Interview each child about Christmas

Wordless Wednesday 8 December

Here is Andre at his school athletics yesterday.

I am linking up to Wordless Wednesday at Little Drummer Boys.

I have gone Hybrid - temporarily

I have been taking a break from my digital scrapbooking to take on some hybrid crafts.  Definition of hybrid for me is design on computer, print out and assemble.  I am sure that other so inclined would do way more with their hybrid efforts but I am very please with what I have created and how well the scissors and I co-operated.  No glue was required which is a bonus as far as I am concerned so all is well.

There they are those trusty scissors.

So what have I been making you might as. Christmas Cards to start with. Two one for family and friends and the other for the children to take to school for their teacher. They really are the same card with a few alterations.


The Chirstmas card for the family.

Note to self (must find out how to photography cards better like the clever hybrid ladies do)

I used pop dots to elevate the Santa on the card.

Then I saw this advent calendar I simply fell in love with.  Pop over to My Digital Art Studio and take a look.  Here is my version.  I didn't have the tools to do the rosettes so I have improvised.  Infact now that I sit here I have a couple more ideas on how to dress up my advent calendar.

For this i used a gold and glitter covered bamboo Christmas tree, glue dots, bull dog clips, scissors my computer and printer

 I will try and take another photo when I put my other couple of ideas into action.

Inside each little card is an advent activity for the the children with or without me to do. I will try and pop back tomorrow and post those idea.

Monday Menu 6 December

This weeks menu is here and looking good...well  I think so

Monday   whole chicken cooked in the slow cooker with baked potatos and green vege.

Tuesday  DD birthday her choice of food.

Wednesday  goats cheese and prosciutto pizzas

Thursday Roasted vege frittata

Friday  Flafels and salad

Saturday  chicken meatballs with couscous

Sunday  Leftovers


Sorry not so many links with weeks.  decided to use my books for once.