A few new photos to share

I just have a few new pics to share with you all

First.. these are the tulips and choccies as described in my previous post. Aren’t they lovely! VERY inspiring when it comes to keeping a pretty clean kitchen!

And these are to show how much my veggie plants have grown in the last few weeks. Check out the parsley! The tomato plant is actually bigger than it appears in the photo – we must be getting close to flowers soon, I can’t wait! This is also my dear sweet 17 month old baby girl, Jasmine, who has learned to help me water them.

Anyway we had a big day with my grandma’s commisioning at church and all kinds of things, so I have to go now, but I promise to update on that book soon enough

Have a good one!

Kitchen Clean!

Today, I’m going to clean up my kitchen!

Well, it’s actually quite clean already – on the outside – thanks to my happy day yesterday (see previous post) however this time I’m going to be giving it a nice thorough decluttering.

I’ve written up a list of tasks for myself and printed it out, but I thought I’d post it up here quickly too. I’ll update this post when I’m done!

Having a clean, organised kitchen is important to me – if it’s a mess and disorganised, I’m not likely to cook healthy meals, let alone enjoy preparing them. And clean kitchens make my boyfriend happy too It’s a good thing I have some beautiful tulips on the bench to inspire me as I go!

My list:

1. Clean out the fridge
2. Clean out the pantry
3. Clean out the drawers
4. Clean out each cupboard
5. Streamline kitchen appliances/utensils
6. Sew matching aprons, tea towels, pot holders, dishcloths (fun project!)
7. Decorate with plants or flowers (I have tulips!)

• All rubbish goes straight in the bin
• Collect items that aren’t useful anymore and give to charity
• Work out what containers we need for storing food properly
• Work out a meal plan and stick it on the fridge
• Write a shopping list based on meal plan, excluding items we already have

That’s it for now!

My Happy Day

I am happy! I had a good day.

Before you read any further, I just wanna point out that its almost 1am and I’m tired so please forgive my poor grammar etc. Anyway:

I am happy and I had a good, no.. great! day. It wasn’t always good – I was actually kind of sad and feeling down mid-morning – a bit tired too. But then I went for a walk. I didn’t have much money, so I decided not to go to the shops, and it was too hot to go for a walk on the bike track, so I pushed Jasmine in her pram down to the library where we stayed until baby rhyme time. She had heaps of fun and I picked up a good book.

On the way home I stopped by the shops – a lovely friend gave me $5 as a token thank you for this dress that I made for her daughter as a gift and she wouldn’t let me say no, so I gratefully accepted when she suggested putting it towards fabric for my next project she’s a sweet lady. Anyway, I went to the shops and bought some apples to make apple pie – a rewarding treat that’s full of fruit and reasonably healthy since I’m in control of how much sugar goes into it.

So, I got this book at the library and after getting Jas into bed and having a nice healthy, satisfying lunch, I had a read – a much better past time than constantly checking all my internet forums hoping for some interaction and acknowledgment that I exist, I tell ya.

The book, which I can’t remember the name right now because I’m SO tired, but I’ll post about it later, is all about the clutter in your life and why it exists and how to battle it – but not only that, it’s about the connection that being overweight (or obese) has to having a cluttered house. I’m not gonna talk about all the things right now and will save that for my review, but let me just say that it gave me some fresh perspective. And get this, I was so proud of myself when I realised that I’d already started to make the changes! For example:

I already decided to get rid of this box filled with junk (ok there are four of them) that are crowding my craft/pc room.

I already cleaned my kitchen and thus had room to prepare a healthy meal – which I had already planned in advance just by visiting the butcher and being inspired by the meat selection.WHICH also meant that instead of just throwing the chicken and some chips in the oven, I had the energy to portion out the meal with a nice serve of salad and replaced the chips with seasoned rice.

Anyway.. so my boyfriend kept in touch with me throughout the day like we always do and because I was sad, he cheered me up by telling me a surprise he had been working on. You see, I don’t have my drivers license, only my L’s. It’s a long story for another day, but it’s a big issue for me. And in secret, he’s been logging my hours for my log book so that he could take me to get my P’s for my birthday. I was in shock when he told me! He was hoping to save it but knew I needed the pick me up and I tell ya.. that did it! It’s not so much about getting the license (or the freedom it means!) but the fact that he thought about me and is helping me. He’s the sweetest.

Anyway, so because he hadn’t eaten anything all day being in a hurry and also being too broke to buy anything (we’re living off one wage and paying off debt and are still learning to manage it better) I said I’d have dinner ready for when he came home. His revelation inspired me to be good to him too! So I went down and cleaned and cooked and when he came home, and I even threw out some clutter and started to fold the ironing while watching my daughter play at the same time.

When he stepped out of the car I thought I’d have the surprise for him – the clean kitchen, the cooked dinner and his fav choccies waiting for him on his desk.. but I was the one surprised! He was standing there with a beautiful bunch of tulips and a box of chocolates!! I love flowers – they’re pretty. Usually Ben shows his love for me in other ways (like massages) but for him to get flowers was such a thoughtful, sweet thing!!

We had a yummy dinner as a family and watched a TV show together and just hung out spending family time together. It was a great night!

Anyway, that’s why I’m still up at 1am in the morning typing this post, because I’m buzzing from spending time with him and I’m really happy and this new book has also really encouraged me and given me some great insight. I’ll share more about it tomorrow but for tonight, I’m just going to be really happy for me and appreciate how lucky I am.. and hopefully get some sleep now. Nini!

My Goals

I don’t feel like writing something really philosophical right now, so I’m just going to keep it short and sweet.

This is a list of a few goals that I have decided on in order to live the kind of life that I want. Overall, I need variety in my life. I thrive best when I’m passionate!

Anyway, my current goals are:

• Start doing an active hobby of some kind in the next few weeks, like belly dancing or martial arts.
• Save my money for a few weeks so I can buy the first bolt of fabric for my new small business idea.
• Drive every chance I get, so I can get my drivers license before my birthday in November

That’s it for now! I just wanted to put this here so I see it all the time. I might print it out and stick it up as well, to remind me.

Brisbane Dust Storm

This is only the second time I’ve ever seen one of these – both within the last two months, though this one is definitely worse than the last. I woke up this morning to see slightly yellow skies and now at 1pm, these are the photos. I hope it clears up and we have a bright sunny day again soon. Usually our skies are a beautiful blue and the grass is green.. just not today.

This is the view from my computer/sewing room on the second floor:

Update: This is from this afternoon at 4pm. The sky is like.. white/grey instead of yellow now that the sun is over here. Not quite as scary as the red that some people were getting but definitely very strange.

Oh by the way, behind the trees in the distance is actually more trees and hills that you just can’t see. I’ll have to take a photo on a sunny, clear, bright day just for comparison.

An update on my progress

It’s been a few days so I thought I should write a little update on how things are going.

I often get inspired to start new things, however one thing I’ve learned is that motivation is only really a short-term burst of energy that can propel you in a direction and the important thing that’s going to keep you on track is the formation of good habits.

For me (and many others, I imagine) it’s often a tricky subject because a motivational burst will only last a few days – a week if you’re lucky – and it takes at least a few weeks to build a habit, and so I’ve found that new projects tend to get forgotten about and pushed aside somewhere in between.

I used to feel really bad about it and beat myself up, but then one day I think I decided to give myself a break. Who really cares if I start a project and don’t finish it? Maybe a friend or family member is getting annoyed, but usually that’s because of their own expectations and frustrations.

I’m the one that cares about ‘failing’ or ‘giving up’ and I’m also the only one that can change it. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t care, just that I think sometimes people put too much pressure on themselves and the moment I started to focus more on just doing things for the sake of enjoying them, the more I found myself doing rather than procrastinating. And the more that I did, the more I achieved and the more likely I was to keep going with it rather than give up.

There are a few things in my life that I really stuck with and all of my achievements were because I loved what I was doing. It wasn’t always easy, sometimes it was downright hard work, but at the end of the day I was still happy, you know? I think that’s why I feel good about these changes I’m making; I’m doing them because I choose to.

When we’re happy, it’s usually because we’re satisfied somehow – we accept the world and are focusing on what we have rather than what we don’t have and these positive feelings are reflected in our behavior. I don’t remember the exact point that made me switch when I started on this new journey, but I can see the results already. I’ve made some really nice changes, like my house is actually really clean right now – not perfectly tidy (I still have some boxes that need sorting through) but it’s clean and decently organised.

I think when we have an organised space around us, it’s a sign that we have things under control. Clutter really weighs down morale, but unfortunately if you’re already feeling a bit depressed, it’s hard to get out of the rut and get ourselves into line.. at least until we get a fresh change of perspective

Maybe that’s what happened to me – I was ready to learn something new about the world. I’m doing ok with my adjustments to parenthood and am ready for something more – to make a better life for me and my family.

Anyway, enough of my musing. I basically just wanted to write down an update of how things have changed so far.:

Physically,  I have a clean house and the first few plants for my homegrown veggie garden. I’ve got most of the ingredients to start making my own soap, I’ve been doing a heap of sewing (for Father’s Day and for orders from friends) and I’ve got the ingredients for natural cleaning products (just have to mix it up!). They’re all small things really, but to me they’re important because they’re my first steps forward.

Mentally, I’m still feeling as recharged and enthusiastic and interested in learning as I was when I started this journey a week ago. I did have one hard day because I didn’t get much sleep (baby wouldn’t sleep until 2am and I had to get up early) and I think girly hormones had something to do with it, but that too was a lesson in itself. I learned firstly that I have a boyfriend that can help me and I don’t have to do it all on my own (of which I am eternally grateful!), and secondly that it’s ok to have a bad day, as long as you pick yourself back up as soon as you can.

I also just wanted to write a quick note to say thank you to everyone who has started to read my blog and for the comments. I didn’t set out to write this blog for others, but rather just as a place where I can collect my thoughts and document my progress – I know it can be really rewarding to look back and see how much you’ve grown and I hope to be able to do that some day.

I don’t want to change that because otherwise I’ll spend all my time worrying about what other people want to read, or worrying about editing my grammar, but then this would all become more of a chore than a place for me to ‘think’ my thoughts out and defeat the purpose of why I’m writing this blog.

However, it’s really rewarding and touching to know that I’ve inspired others and that there are other people who are going, or who have been, through the same thought processes as me. So I wanted to say thanks and you’re all very welcome to comment or email me any time.

Anyway, it’s late now so I better wrap it up. It’s Father’s Day this weekend so I’m gonna have fun spending time with the family and I’ll be back with more next week. Bye!