Wow, happy Blogiversary? (and 3 days)

So it seems that I started this Blog 2 years (and 3 days) ago!!

EDIT: This time frame is sooo wrong! I can't for the life of me figure out how I managed to stuff it up this badly! I blame Blogger for not showing me all the posts on the day I wrote this!

I really don't care that much about when, it is the why that is more important! and really, at the moment I am not even sure that matters!

I had plans of my blog becoming ever popular, having tutorials for sewing, recipes for cooking, continuous updates of family life on the Farm that we purchased and moved to not a year before I started it.

Now it is 2 years on coming up to our 4th Christmas in our Life Long Home, and I am realising just how much I haven't done, and not so much of what I have done!

How much life has moved on and changed and grown, and just how much I seem to be the same!

I don't like it.  I don't know what to do to change it.  Maybe I am just the way I am meant to be?

I find myself wanting to say things, but lacking the articulation to make my argument.

I struggle with the idea of getting paid work, actually I struggle with the idea of work altogether!
I got excited recently about a potential job to get me back into the work force, and sorted everything out that needed doing, full medical and drug testing, only to be turned away because I have an allergy to Codeine! I have taken it before quite a few times and have never reacted badly to it.  But a definitive scratch test has told me I am allergic and not just a little, but quite severely.

Holding faith in the universe that things are as they should be is becoming increasingly hard for me.

Figuring out what my next step is, even harder than that!  Time to sit back and concentrate on making this Christmas season (that I just don't want to happen, let alone find excitement for the sake of the children) one of the best my children have had!
And I need to start by taking charge of the absolute horror that is my house at the moment.

*sigh*

Helping Hands: Do you need help?

I really wanted to do an upbeat post to start the month off, after last month's dismal #operationMOVE effort, and the grief the family has shared.

I sat at the computer for what seemed like hours.  Had a few phone calls, one from the School to tell me Big kidlet was ill, and 2 from a friend who is having a hard time of it lately.

These calls did 2 things for me, firstly:
Stuck at home with a sick 3yo I was not in any rush to pack the 2 Kidlets up and cart them on a 40 minute round trip to pick the 3rd Kidlet up! I needed HELP... so a few unanswered phone calls and a returned call later, my Mother in Law saved the day for me, even though she was busy with her own things, she found a way to help me and my sickie Kidlets out.

Second?
My friend is in real need of help, organisation and living optimally are not on the agenda, working 12hour days to pay bills that the income doesn't cover, having fallen behind on bills so a consolidation of debts is not on the cards by anyone, and contact has been made with at least 3 financial companies, none of which can help because "You are already in the red"
Not eating or buying junk because there is no time to make anything in your 16hr day, yes up to 4 hrs traveling per day... My friend needs HELP!
I offered everything I can, and the chances are unless I show up on the doorstep randomly one evening and just do it all, my offer will slip passed un-accessed.

What is it that makes people feel as though they can't access help?  Even when it is offered freely? 
I wouldn't offer the help if I didn't want to help or if I was unable to help.

I guess at least I am a listening ear on the other end of the phone!

Would you go round and just start doing?  Do a big cook up and fill the freezer with ready meals?
Offer to help and then sit back and hope to be asked?


This month I am helping myself, #operationMOVE is on again and my aim this month has been reduced to 500minutes.  I am helping myself get healthy and motivated, feel less fatigued and depressed and get more things done in a day! 
Christmas is getting closer and it is time for me to start thinking hard on those small handmade gifts, made with love and filled with wonder!

xxx
Katie

It's Thursday...

and the blogging world (the one I seem to associate with the most) is having an "I {heart} my body" day....

Then over at Kate Says Stuff, Kate is hosting her last "Thankful Thursday"!

Quite frankly I can't bring myself to be loving of my body or Thankful for much of anything...

Well no, not really true! Although I am struggling in every way with just about everything I am meant to do at the moment.
The house is beyond messy,
The dishes are piling up,
The washing (after finally getting about 8 loads folded) is now piling up in the laundry, again!

My husband's Grandmother Passed away on Monday morning, at 94 years old, after about 10 years in a nursing home.  It is one of those things that is going to happen no matter what, and although you can be completely prepared for it and see the life coming to an end before your eyes, it still hits everyone hard.

The funeral is tomorrow, I will be going provide as much support to my hubby as I can.
I am thankful that I have the opportunity to stand by him and be a tower of support when he needs it.
I am thankful he had the chance to see his Nan a week or so before she passed.
I am thankful that his Nan had the chance to meet her Great Grand Children.

I have had 3 weeks without a home internet connection, the issue was resolved last night.

I am thankful the issue was resolved.
I am thankful to have an online community (albeit small) to miss
I am thankful for the blog, that has barely any hits or followers, it is my place to purge.

The only photo of my face that I like!

So in the case of 'body love'

I have been trying to do this operation move thing, this month it is going incredibly badly.  I have had no motivation and the only time I have done any minutes to count are the times when I have had no other choice, such as walking around the supermarket yesterday.

What I love about my body is..
 - the fact that I do not feel obliged to shave/wax and match in with other's expectation of what I should look like.  I have body hair and I am proud of it!
 - I love my stretch marks, they are a natural tattoo that show I am a mother.
 - I love my tattoo, it is a connection that means a lot to me.
 - I love my breasts, they provided life to my children.

Linking up with We Heart Life
and Kate Says Stuff (link up top)

Because shit happens and there is always something to love and be thankful for...

xx Katie

Time Flies!

The amount of times I have said here that I would try to blog more regularly, are just wildly overpowering the amount of times I have actually blogged more regularly!

Things seem to get on top of me, but at the same time I seem to be getting NOTHING done!

So as it stands, I was going to take on Blogtober this year... so much for that idea!

I committed to OperationMOVE last month, with a target of 600minutes, I am slightly disappointed to say I didn't make my target!  I got to 420minutes however which was an achievement for someone who barely leaves the house!

So for October I have challenged myself further and joined up with a new outlook and a new target of 900minutes!  I am currently at 270!  Seeing it like that makes me feel like I am on target... and I am, BUT!  What you don't see in this is that these numbers are made up of only a few days effort! I walked around Hobart for about 2 hours on Tuesday getting from our parked car to the car yard to test drive a new car, then to the bank for money and back to the car yard to pay and drive away in our new ride!

'02 Subaru Forester - New to me Car

Then Friday... or was it Thursday... heh, either way! I spent the day Cleaning house and vacuuming... I have allocated 120 minutes of 'move' time for my day of cleaning. 

Today I spent 30 minutes, possibly more, walking through the supermarket, pushing a trolley full of children and groceries.

So now I have written that out I don't seem anywhere near as committed to the exercise as previously implied! Do I?

Please check out what OperationMOVE is all about. HERE

A new challenge for myself, now that we are well into Spring and fast approaching Summer... Drinking more water! I have a 1 litre bottle (just a crappy plastic one) that I am currently aiming to drink at least 1 of per day, over the month I aim to up that to 2 litres a day minimum.
I do not drink enough and have also found my children don't drink enough, so it is time to step up, lead by example, and get drinking!

My 5yo Boy has, finally, at last, woo-fucking-hoo!, decided he no longer needs any nappies! I had argument after argument with him about night nappies and doing #2's in the toilet not the nappy... he held on until bed time or did it first thing in the morning, so as not to use the toilet. 
After falling asleep without a nappy and sharing that moment of panic in the morning because we forgot the nappy, He was DRY... and a couple of nights later he fell asleep without a nappy and we put him into bed without getting him in one... DRY again, and now he uses the toilet all the time, BY CHOICE! WOOHOO


Now to work on the 3yo!

Mr 5 and Miss 3 are also both on another round of anti-biotics, Bronchitis and tonsilitis!

What else it going on? We are getting 3-4 fresh free-range eggs per day from our hens. Unfortunately their new pen is still not complete, and we are no closer to having a single garden bed in our designated 'Garden Zone'.  There are plans for this but well best intentions...

Sometime over the next month some house repairs should start! Over the same time frame I hope to start the process of applying for employment! 

I am currently having a clearance sale on facebook,   Check out the album lots of things at reduced prices.

School Holidays!

As they always seem to the school holidays put a back burner on almost everything. 
They also seem to show me every. single. time. just how much time I don't spend with my children, ever!

I mean, I am always here with them, I am available if they need me. 
But I don't really make the time to interact with them.
I am the kind of parent who sits back and ignores them encourages their independence!
That is, I leave them to their own devices and supply them with things, as they ask for them.

Essentially, that gives them space to explore and discover who they really are, well, it is supposed too right?

So what happens when all your children do is sit in front of a screen? 
Well I sit in front of one too!

We had a weekend away at the beach(ish) last weekend.  No screens allowed.. well aside from the phones, and the TV in the shack we stayed at!

The children had no access to any thing computery... yes it is a word... at least, it is now!!!

They did however have access to a bunch of other children to play with, so that tends to help heaps in the 'Occupy Yourself' stakes! Also with the other adults around, I was able to have a break and time out from the kids, although I probably relied on others too much!

So the point of this post seems a little lost. 
Although I believe in the way I am bringing up my children, I feel like there is some connection missing and too much 'screen time' and the task of breaking the not so fabulous routine we have going is a daunting one, that I am not sure I want to take on.  Is it better to change things and go through the massive upheaval it will bring to my children?  They tend to throw small tantrums when screens are taken away!
Or do I leave them to do what they want to and spend time trying to encourage other play?  They currently like to leave the screens from time to time and do role play games, usually about the shows and/or games they have been watching/playing.  Is that enough?
I know it wasn't what I did when I was a child, but when I was a child the world was a different place!  Embracing the differences is something I feel needs to happen as well.  I wasn't raised the same way my parents were, and my children in turn will not be raised the same way I was, because every generation is different.

Do I trust that my children will self regulate their screen time? 
I believe that as the weather gets nicer they will increase their outside play and in turn decrease the screen time.

On a whole new topic, the weekend away provided much needed time away from everything.  I got quite a bit of #operationMOVE time in. (check the side bar for more info).
Problem is I am losing count of what I have recorded because I am not writing it down anywhere and forget what I have already added to my total!

So lets see if I can work it out here.. adding my totals from the weekend.
30 minutes for Saturday
45 minutes for Sunday
and Yesterday's 30 minute treadmill and 30 minute bush work..

That takes me to 300 minutes! Half way there! only a few days late!  YAY!!


And to top off all that MOVEment, there were Dolphins at the beach... I saw them a few times as they made their way up the coast line, and managed to catch the very tip of some dorsal fins in a photo, after my phone didn't want to take photo's the way I wanted and the video option wouldn't take video for longer than 4 seconds... I will share that and some more pics tomorrow!