Telling Stories, Making Stories

I am pretty convinced I am a story teller.

But I am not.

I am a story maker.

This was recently put into perspective for me by my little Miss.

"Mum; I love weekends with you because we DO things"

Now; the things we do, I feel are in no way extraordinary, but for Miss and JD it seems they are.

Every weekend they spend with the Mr and I, we try to find new and different FREE adventures to go on. We strap on our shoes, pack a picnic, grab a blanket and off we go.
We discover our natural surroundings as we explore National Parks, we attend free community music festivals, we take our picnic lunches to parks and to the river and to the sea, we swim and run and play.

We return home with our photo's and our stories and they are excited to return to school and tell their stories as "news"

Our most recent story was made when we attended the "Surfing the Coldstream" Festival in Yamba, NSW. This story sounds like local music, it looks bright and colourful, it tasted like sno-cones and it smelt like circus folk.

Making stories is the greatest thing i can do as a parent, and i feel that there are plenty more to come.

Cultivating Joy and Thriving

Welcome to 2014. 

This year is going to be about living a full and joyful life. Sharing love, meals and adventures with the people I love while maintaining a balanced sense of self, purpose and direction. 

In a random moment yesterday I started to scribble down some goals, somethings I want to do to embrace my days, and make them my own.

It started off simply More Hugs; giving and receiving the physical intimacy and warmth of a hug, I believe, is one of the greatest gifts we can give each other as human beings. A hug says; I love you, I understand, I am sorry, you are important, I am with you, I support you, I thank you and so much more.  

Take More Photos. I'll be honest, my smart phone has made me a lazy photographer. Why carry a camera that weights nearly 2kgs when your phone is always in your pocket? Because I am more likely to print and use "real" photos that's why!!! Then I had to think of a purpose for using my photos, not being much of a scrapbooker ( too lazy too time poor) I stumbled on "Project Life" via my friend Little Raven Ink. This is memory keeping I can do, put the photo in the slot, write a note about it on a pretty card and pop it in the next slot, I can win at this! The goal one 2 page spread per month.

Then we got onto some bigger stuff Follow The Cleaning Schedule, this probably sounds simple, but for me, it is not. I have developed and achievable schedule, it looks pretty, it's on the fridge and I will follow it. 

Then I had some child related goals, to nurture and assist my little people with their learning and academic pursuits. So far we have had a lot of focus and energy spent on physical activity and achievements and artistic activity and achievements, 2014 is the year to hone our literacy and numeracy skills. Reading, Writting and Mathamatics will be given additional support this year.

The first practical step on this road with be home readers every night that they are in my care, with Saturdays being a rest night if they choose. 

Speaking of study, the next goal is to commit time to My Study. Schedule time and usie it accordingly, this Post Grad work is more important to my career future than anything at the moment and it deserves my full attention. 

Relationship wise I decided that the Mr and I will take one tech free date night per month, that's right, no phones, no iPads, no calls, no texts, not Facebook, no Instagram, No Technology just the company of each other

This one I struggle with because of the convenience of social media, I know what's happening in your life, because it's on my news feed.... Well that's not really good enough! Staying in Touch with absent friends. This will be difficult, but rather than Facebook

I am going to send an email or write a letter, make the occasional phone call or skype. 

And as the man laying beside me has kindly reminded me, the last and most important goal, Get Enough Sleep. I guess that means now.

The Art of the Heart

I have been busy recently putting inks, paint and pencils on paper. 

I have gone back to my cut and paste roots with some collage and 

using booking sheets, ticket stubs and the like to create fixed memories.

I have also been inspired by Tyler Knott Gregson's blackout/white out poetry,

Toast Urunga

Just a little montage from the awesome day that was Toast Urunga feat. Clocks and Dice

Gazbus Adventures Part 2

I love running away on weekends with my Mr, and this weekend is no different.

Friday afternoon we packed the van and for something different headed South. 

Stopping for an overnight stay in a cute little yurt at Valla Beach and an "interesting" meal at the Valla Tavern which involved, inter-family domestics, screaming kids and a beautiful meal,  the Mr says it was teh BEST $7 steaks he's ever had.

Saturday we headed South again starting out day with breakfast at the Boatshed Cafe at Nambucca Heads, a delicious GIANT pancake for me and  eggs Benedict for the Mr.

We put our tourist on and explored the history of Trial Bay Gaol, and walked the Monument walking track to watch whales followed by lunch at the Seabreeze Hotel.

Organising, Reflecting, Cleaning and Planning

Further to the hoarding and perpetual untidiness that is my home, several improvements have recently been made.

The Mr, the smalls and I spent Saturday sorting, throwing, washing, sweeping, blower vac-ing the downs stairs area making it tidy and functional ! It's looking good, just a few more larger items to take to charity and we will be able to kick back on a Spring eve with the BBQ cracking.

Also I have jumped on the Filofax train with a little encouragement from Little Raven Ink.
My filo is a Domino A5 in Cherry Red, her name is Agnes.
My goal is to get my life into some semblance of order, to make sure no events, functions, to-do's and bills are forgotten or overlooked.

I have updated our family budget so we can stay on track there too, pay the bills and make the savings and all those good productive adult things I should be doing.

But the biggest thing to happen this week is the "Order in the Chaos" Cleaning schedule. I made the decisions that if I had a schedule, I would be committed to it.
I was also inspired by a conversations with one of my beautiful, but OCD friends today, who talked about "jobs to do while the kettle is boiling" little things that you never seem to get around to, like wiping out the cutlery draw, tidying the tupperware cupboard, wiping out the shelves in the fridge, sweeping the kitchen floor, putting the laundry on and so on and so forth.
I already know that I make poor use of my available time, but no more! With Post Grad study looming, now is my opportunity to get on top of this stuff.
So everyone has tasks and everyone has responsibilities; naturally because there are small people involved there are rewards for doing chores..... my reward is the cup of tea at the end of the day.

Agnes in Action 

What I Wore Wednesday

It's going to be a big day; Miss 7 is getting braces :(

Today calls for comfort and function, over cute and frivolous.

So I chose ripped boyfriend jeans, my fave 90's band tank and hair inspired by Cilla Black.