Thursday, February 10, 2011

Working through that list....

....... one more thing I did from my list.

Got my tattoo on my wrist fixed, and I am in love with it!

from this....



to this!!


Have to say a big thank you to Courtney from Tattoo Junction in Noosa. She did a brilliant job, and I'll be going back to her to have more done.... :-)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

feeding a family of four on a very tight budget...

As you know, on my bucket list is a holiday with my kids. The current choice of location is Day Dream Island - as long as it withstood the catergory 5 cyclone that blew through north Queensland last night...

Anyway... in order to be able to do that I have to tighten up an already tight budget. I came across Sandra's Blog  and seeing as how she is/was in similar circumstances to me I thought I would take a leaf out of her book - or blog as the case may be - and see if I can feed my family of four (1 adult, 2 teenagers - one that eats like a locust! and one pre-schooler) for $120 for two weeks. Her premise is based on 14 meals, or dinners.

I went through my pantry, fridge and freezer and listed every thing in them. Sat down with the copious recipe books, and recipe magazines I have, and menu planned for 14 days, based on what I had in the fridge/freezer/pantry. Anything that I needed to complete the meal went on a shopping list. The shopping list has ten items on it. TEN! and half of them are fruit and vegetables.

So begins the challenge of feeding my family... so we can go to day dream island....

Wish me luck!

and here is her suggestion for stocking your pantry...  happy to report that my pantry has about 95% of what she suggests... :-)

gratitude

Every morning in my inbox I get my stars for the day. This was todays -

The New Moon in your sign is such an auspicious time - you need to celebrate your life this week. What do you love about your existence? Would it be asking too much of you to take a moment to write down the top five things that you’re grateful for? As Oprah Winfrey said “When we praise and celebrate our life, we have even more to praise and celebrate”. The Universe loves gratitude. Show some today and you’ll be setting yourself up for more good. This is the start of your new year.

So what am I grateful for...

.... my three children. after experiencing a week of sickness with Aston, where he was unable to eat, and was so incredibly sad, I have a new appreciation for parents of chronically ill children. My three babies are incredibly healthy!

... living in such a beautiful place, surrounded by space, trees, wild life of every description. Yes, the driveway is annoying, yes when we get a lot of rain, we get flooded in, yes, it is at times can feel isolated - but the peace that I feel when I take the time to just sit, and breath in the peace makes all those little things (because really they are minute!) all worth it.

... my gorgeous friends. my life is so enriched by the amazing friends I have in my life. both new and old. that stand by me, champion me on through the hard times, laugh with me in the good times, celebrate with me my triumphs...

... my ability to adapt and overcome. that in spite of hardship, my fighting spirit has not been put out

... my inquiring mind...even though at times it can drive me to distraction, without I wouldn't have found the answers to so many questions that needed to be known.

While 2011 for Queensland so far has been full of horrendous acts of mother nature - for me personally, its been ok... and ok is great!

 

Blog Design by Sommerfugl Design