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Thursday, August 23, 2012

30 Positive Things! (Link Singular Insanity)

Today I'm linking up with Dorothy from Singular Insanity in listing 30 Positive Things about myself.. THIRTY! Talk about blowing one's own whistle! however, I found this a worthwhile activity because as a busy Mother we don't often take the time out to think about the good qualities that we can offer or even think about our positives, but we certainly are quick to judge ourselves critically and feel bad about our flaws. So here goes... (dons thinking cap..)
1. I am a wonderful Mother, I love my children and would do anything for them
2. I am a great wife.. (as I hear hubby in the background stacking the dishwasher) I'm faithful, honest and love my husband deeply.
3. I am a good Daughter/Grandaughter. I don't visit as often as I should, but I'm always happy to keep the lines of communication open & have never taken advantage of my wonderful parents/Grandparents.
4. I like to keep a clean and tidy home. I am a house proud person.
5. I make awesome cupcakes.. I love it, baking ~ it's so therapeutic! And so yummy.
6. I cut down from 1.5l of Coke a day to 350-700ml. I don't drink coffee, so that's my excuse for not going cold turkey!
7. I don't drink alcohol or smoke..
8. I started exercising 2 weeks ago and have stuck with it thus far! 4 walks a week.. Feel so much better for it.
9. I have never been fired from a job..
10. I finished my Uni degree after struggling with it for 10 years as i had an unwavering passion to be a Teacher.
11. I donate to 3 charities yearly. This year it's been Canteen, Royal Children's Hospital & Endevour Foundation.
12. I look forward to Christmas, I love the time spent with family, tradition & seeing the joy on kids faces.. How is this a positive, because at Christmastime I just feel 'different' & for me that time of the year is a positive.
13. I have big blue eyes :-) I love my eyes.. They are something both of my boys have and I love it when they say they got their eyes from their Mum.
14. I think it's wonderful that I have lovely friends, although I sometimes wish I had a really close friend. But it's all good, a few are better than none I guess! :-)
15. I love my job (when I go) I'm a relief teacher. The hours are right, the pay is great & the kids are wonderful. Lots of variety, never boring & I usually work alone.
16. I live in a wonderful area and have done so for 31 years. Since a young child I have lived in my family home, now it's mine, I too still feel a great connection with the home & the area & am glad my kids got to experience some of my nostalgic childhood memories.
17. I'm not addicted to TV! Positive because my life doesn't revolve around the box. :-) So many people I know get so engrossed in program's, I'm just happy to watch what's on, when it's on..
18. I enjoy walking, it's so therapeutic to be out in the fresh air amongst nature & to be getting fit at the same time is just a side benefit to how good just being outside makes me feel.
19. I can grow flowers ok now. My Mum is such a green thumb, she can make any flower/tree/grass grow and her flowers are just insanely beautiful. I've never had the patience for flowers in the past, but my recent attempts at beautifying my front garden have worked out well.. So I'm pretty happy at that even if they are only petunia's & pansy's!
20. (omg its getting so hard to think of things...) I'm a great bargain shopper, I can usually find great sales & fantastic items on specials or in op shops etc. 21. Im a fast ironer (in this house you have to be!)
22. I love the beach it's my happy place :-)
23. I love my hair, it grows really quickly.
24. I'm good at playing Super Mario on the Wii and Mario Kart.
25. I'm a good judge of character.
26. I enjoy watching movies.
27. I have wonderful children
28. I have a wonderful husband
29. I have a wonderful family
30. I AM WONDERFUL (& FINISHED! Not a point too soon! Phew...)

That was hard work.. Sorry if I repeated myself :-) give it a go & link up with Singular Insanity.

Sales! Love them!

Last week it just so happened I was in the right place at the right time (for once!) and I happened to stumble upon a Target below cost clearance sale. I love Target clothes for the kids (except last season, I just couldn't get into the burnt orange) I find them to be stylish, long lasting/durable and on the most part affordable so I usually get the majority of each season's clothes there with a spattering of Kmart and Big W here & there. Anyway, so I happened to stumble into this sale & I loaded the pram to the top & my 7 year old's arms with some fantastic priced goodies such as World Industries skinny leg jeans (RRP $36) for $12, Piping Hot Skinny legs for $8, whole outfits in size 1 & 2 from $2.86! & Pj's from only $2.86! I was stoked. I purchased 1 full price tee amongst my bargains which set me back $10 but all the other items cost me $90.00 all up!

I got home and totalled up the real value (I get a kick out of seeing how much I have saved) and if I'd paid full price it totalled $320! A whopping saving of $230!

What was even better the next day I popped back & a target worker was taking all the purple priced items off the shelves as the sale didn't start til the week after! Score... I went up there tonight and I noticed the items I had bought were still marked down but their prices had increased by $2.00 across the board, so I got a great bargain. Tonight I picked up a $50 outfit (Piping Hot Jeans & Long Sleeve Tee) size 1 for $7.00. With prices like that, I couldn't even be bothered 2nd hand shopping.. :-) thanks Target! :-D

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Belated Birthday Post

Charlie turned 1 on the 26th July, I can't believe how quickly the past year has gone. 1 year ago I was introduced to the most teensy tiny perfect little person and over the past year he has grown into a gorgeous, energetic and VERY inquisitive toddler whom brightens my day with his gorgeous smile, cuddles and kisses.

At one he is able to say quite a few words added to his vocab lately is hello (ello) quack quack (cuck cuck) & Badger (adger) our dog.

Over the past week he has learnt to stand more solidly & walk along on the furniture and his walker, although shaky he is super eager to get a wriggle on! We're not fussed either way & are happy for him to crawl as long as he likes.

Food wise, he is a great eater. Eating a varied diet & willing to eat nearly all that is placed in front of him, provided it is mashed as he isn't 100% confident on lumps. This past fortnight his favourite has been biscuits & a treat of flavoured milk!

His birthday was celebrated at home with lots of balloons, pressies & cake. We had a party on the weekend following his birthday but due to illness it was only a small do. It was a great start to his 2nd year of life though and I look forward to every minute of it!

Love you little Charlie Oliver xo

Monday, August 20, 2012

Hello again!

I'm baaaack! Not that I've been far away, I actually haven't gone anywhere at all! So many viruses & illnesses has kept this family relatively quiet over the colder months thus far, but as the weather warms up.. So do I. Hubby and I are not winter people at all, we both seem to go into our cocoons over the Winter. So over the next few days, I hope to do a catch up on my blog..

We're up tonight with our little man, he hasn't been sleeping that well of late (or ever really) but lately it's been worse, 4 teeth coming in, illness & he's just started standing & trying to walk, so he's never really prepared to sit still for very long, which is oh so cute, but oh so tiring all at the same time! :-)

It's our 'off term' as opposed to our 'on term' when Hubby's kids are here (also known as the 'off term' lol) so the two boys have been bonding really well & playing up a storm in the absence of the 2 baby helicopters, my eldest 2 stepchildren, who tend to hog the baby!
The kidlets have been coming back every 2nd weekend. So we've been trying to pop in the odd family activity here & there but haven't ventured too far in light of everyone feeling unwell or what it seems the remainder of the population trying to influenza any healthy people that do venture out!

We've had a good couple of months & I look forward to getting back into my blog & sharing with you the crazy world that is this family.