Wordless Wednesday 29 January

The very last day of the school holidays here in this house for two children with the last child starting Monday.

So one last reminder of the holidays and then we are into the routine of school life, with me the 'taxi'.

I am linking this to My Little Drummer Boys.

There are those that give of their time.....

It is amazing in the disability sector how there are people who freely give up their time to do something that makes others smile. 

Just that happened in early December for us.  The opportunity to get a professional photographer give up some time to take photographs of children who go to Wilson Home for respite care.

Hayden loves going there for a 'holiday' and the staff love having him stay.

Of course Hayden is incredibly difficult to persuade to sit still and have a photo taken at the best of times so we happily took up the offer, not having any expectation for a photographic outcome.

Well today I got some photos and I love them.  They are not perfect but they capture Hayden as he is expressions, Barney and all.

Take a look.

First the Hayden smiling photo.  I am sure this would have taken ages to get.

Then there is this 'what are you doing?' photo. 

and finally, my personal favourite the 'I won't do what you want me to' photo with Barney his favourite.

 

So to the photographer that I don't know.  Thank you for giving up you time to photography Hayden.  Thank you for being patient enough to capture all those everyday emotions that we see everyday.  I love the photos.

Monday Menu 27 January

Here we are the beginning of another week and the start of the school year.

Here is my menu

Monday  cold meat and baked potato with a garden salad.

Tuesday  Lemon and garlic chicken.

Wednesday  Spicy Plum chicken

Thursday  Open chicken burger

Friday  cheesy turkish pizzettas 

Saturday  chicken and rice noodle salad

Sunday  leftovers.

Sorry not many links this week as I used a magazine for some of the recipes.

I am linking this post to I'm an Organising Junkie

Fridays Fabulous Finds # 45

(source of image)

The internet is a place of interesting, the weird and wonderful.  So this week I present

• The lovely Donna at The Spotted Hook has revamped her blog and I love how it is look.  She also has an Esty shop.  Just look at here beautiful crochet hooks.

•  If you like Lamingtons then this recipe, light on the calories might just be the right thing for you.

• I just love this collection of ideas for around the house.  Wether I will remember that I have them book marked but Glamumous' blog post 101 Household tips is full of useful ideas.

• On a more serious note and with a young teenager in the house then this post about Internet Safety is a good reminder for me and DD

• Then there is the covering school books especially if you have young children and Creative Bug has so ideas to share

Wordless Wednesday 22 January

My daughter always wanted to learn to surf.  So this year we gave her a lesson and wow she loved it.  She even got to stand up on her first less.  This is what she looked like after 2 hours of surfing at Hot Water Beach.

I am linking this photo to My Little Drummer Boys.

Cooking while camping

When we go camping I have a few basics which are a must.....a hot running shower just like at home and a clean flushing toilet.  I don't think that I am asking much really.  Anyway each year we go camping we add a few new item to our list of things to take camping and this year it was amoung a couple of other things, a new bbq.  Oh boy it is lovely.  It packs up small and cooks fast.  I could not wait to use it.

So armed with some tin foil I cooked easy prepared one touch kind of meals.

Wrap  potato, meat of choice (sausages on this night) in tin foil.  Pop the hood down on the barbeque then sit and enjoy your company.

 Thats it until cooked.  Assemble salad on your plate and consider it ready to eat.

Take a look...

 Pipping hot from the oven ready to unwrap.

 Basic camping food but tasty after a long day at the beach and in the water swimming.

 Here are the family here enjoying the meal. (Hayden is in respite care).

 The best part of it all the barbeque is clean the tin foil saves some dishes and the children were on the dishes anyway.

Mondays Menu 20 January

Returned from holiday a day early as tents and rain don't do nicely together in my book so here I am putting my menu up a little late but done none the less.

Monday  Returned home from camping and used a freezer meal.

Tuesday  chicken in a bag with green salad

Wednesday  zucchini loaf with fresh cob corn and garden salad.

Thursday  creamy coconut stir fry sauce on chicken and my choice of vegetables with noodles.

Friday  barbeque chicken wraps

Saturday  vegetable and macaroni vegetable bake.

Sunday  leftover day.

I am linking this post to  I'm an Organising Junkie

From my Point of View

I love it when the only noise I hear down at the swimming pool is a few lane swimmers.  Just so peaceful and gives me time to reflect.  Oh I love the holidays.

From my Point of View

(the credits can be found here)

Wordless Wednesday 8 January

I can't believe that is 2014 already.  I am ready to blog more regularly but of course starting this weekend we will be on holiday so you will have to excuse my absence.

Anyway while trying to blog, scrapbook, take memories during the school holidays we are trying to paint the inside of our house.  So to start off the photo journey of renovation here is my disabled son with my DH who is working on the cathedral ceiling in our lounge room.







Now excuse my photo as blogger is playing up a little but anyway.

I am linking this post to My Little Drummer Boys

Happy Wordless Wednesday

Monday Menu 6 January

Here I am the week before going camping back on track.  I will try and post my camping food just before going away.

So on to this week.

Monday  Chicken meatball salad

Tuesday  Lemon Grass Skewers with fried rice

Wednesday  Peppered steak and green salad

Thursday  sweet and sour chicken

Friday  Zucchini loaf and salad

Saturday  (we are camping)  The packet plan for the first night

Sunday  sausages, grilled potato and salad

I am linking this post to I'm an Organising Junkie

Carers Fatigue

Carers fatigue is something that really catches up with those of us who care full time for the disabled, at some time or another.  For me at the end of the school term when I am really tired and have been run off my feet. My husbands job makes this more challenging because it takes him away from home overseas, frequently. 

Now don't feel sorry for me.  That is not what I intend you to feel. 

How do I recognise what is happening to me when I have a complete melt down, carers fatigue.    As I sit here and think about these events I acknowledge that they are triggered by a number of things; exhaustion, no time to take time to do something for me, an immense feeling of isolation,  I over eat and grumpy.  I know this list anyone could feel one or more of them.  But when I get to the point of carers fatigue I feel all of these at once. 

While I don't seem to be able to prevent these moments I am trying to do a number of things to help manage them.

• I have a part time job.  Essential for me, giving me time out of the home environment that causes the melt down moments.
• I try and exercise.  This one is not always easy so I am trying to come up with a plan for exercise at home in the evening when I am alone with the children and have been working.
• A more extensive list of baby sitters so my husband and I can go out every now and again.
• I am working at getting more residential respite care.  Not sure how successful this will be but it is worth having a go.
• Finally I do art journalling.  This year I was looking at happiness as my focus for this hobby.  So take a look at Octobers pages I have done.  I am going to get them all printed into a book so I can refer to them when I need to.

The credits for these pages can be found here at my Scrapbook Graphics gallery

If you are a carer of someone full time what do you do to look after yourself?

Fridays Faboulous Finds #44

Here I am with great long list of all those links I have been saving for when I have some time to

 

(image source)

• For those of you into recording your childrens thoughts and growth then this cute printable New Years resolution is perfect from Thirty Handmade Days
• With the long summer holidays here making kites with paper from your printer is great and easy.  It was a very successful afternoon we had when we made these the other day.
• This blog is written by a woman who has a child with disabilities.  It is well worth a read.
• How about the children doing a little baking in the holidays.  These Hidden Kisses are perfect and easy to do.
• How cute are these scented leaves, a craft project by Vinnie Pearce.  In fact her blog has heaps of easy to do crafty things.

Can you believe it?

For three years we have had a beautiful antique Chinese piece of furniture.  I have never been happy about how it looked once I had wiped it down.  I could always see the greasy finger marks I had just tried to wipe off.  Just so frustrating.

So now that we have finished renovating our lounge room it was time to put the furniture back.  Oh boy why I had not done this before but I decided to Google a cleaning solution for the lacquered finish that was causing me frustration.  Success.....I now have one really clean piece of furniture.  So here it is;

Furniture Polish

equal parts of white vinegar and lemon juice.  Mix and there you have it.

I just love the results.

Welcome in 2014

With a very small touch of celebration in my house and 2014 arrived.  Sadly no baby sitter arrived as my one had a bad tooth and could not leave her house.

Then my faith in humanity was truely restored when the gathering we were supposed to be going to arrived down at  our house.  Yes the gathering was at the top of my 1/2 kilometer driveway and they walked down to my house.  Fabulous friends to have.


So here we are with my children having a little fun to celebrate the beginning of yet another year.

(with gentle participation my family participated in this photo shoot.)