I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas.....

.... and when all of the white is gone, I'll start on the red!!

I have been making some handmade tags and cards.....

are you doing anything special at the moment to prepare for Christmas ?

The Future's So Bright.........

Yesterday I was chatting to a lady who I haven't seen for a while. She asked me what I had been doing since I left my paid job.

I started to tell her that the time had actually flown by really quickly and I had this real sense of not achieving as much as I had hoped to with all my suddenly found extra time.

I had hoped that I was going to make some 'real headway' in my life! I told her that I guess I had done 'a few things', like built garden beds and started growing all sorts of different vegetables and herbs which has now paid off in that we have lots of things to eat in the garden.

 I had also began making lots of things from scratch including bread, water crackers, dips, cakes, biscuits and then other things like soap, cordial and cleaning products.

I said we were getting closer to finishing off the chook house and I had been able to do extra activities with the boys which I really enjoy.

I have been writing on my website, talking on local radio about the stop food waste campaign and doing interviews with journalists. I had got all the washing/ironing under control and was enjoying going to aqua aerobics , I had also started teaching album making classes from my home and had been doing some photo restorations. I told her that I had also just about finished a book about my Grandmothers wisdom applied to my modern life.

WoW! then I said, ' well, when I put it in a list like that it certainly does sound as though I am getting somewhere'.

Then I stopped. and I thought. and thought. Yes, it has been a while now since I left 'work' and when I look back at the wake behind me, there has been a lot happening.

It's just that most of the tasks I do on a day to day basis are quite repetitive and are sometimes taken for granted. When I look, however, at the beautiful tomatoes that are growing on the bush and know that we started them from a tiny seed, I can see how far we have come..... and how bright our future really is.

7 Deadly Sins That Kill A Simple Life

1. Failing to Plan Ahead. - always running around doing things at the last minute, creating stress that could have been avoided.


2. Overscheduling. too many commitments, too many appointments and engagements. Not enough time to relax and enjoy yourself and spend some quality time with your family.


3. Impulse Buying With A credit Card The 'buzz' of something new soon wears off. By the time the credit card bill comes in you may regret the purchase but have to pay for it with interest!

4. Staying on the Debt Treadmill The longer you stay in debt, the more time you have to work to pay back the debt plus the interest. If you didn't have any debt, would you have a different job, work less, pursue your dreams? How would you live differently if you could step off the treadmill ?


5. Putting Wants ahead of Needs Look in your cupboards/garage/storage shed. There lies all the 'stuff' you have spent your hard earned money on. If you could add it all up what would the total be ? What about all the 'stuff' you have already thrown out, donated, or given away ? What are your true needs versus your wants ?


6. Exposing Yourself to too much advertising Would you read a book called " 101 ways to make yourself feel totally inadequate" ? Advertising is designed to firstly to point out how poor/ugly/fat/undesirable/unintelligent you are and then show you how you can fix it by buying a product. If you don't want to be convinced how inadequate you are, limit your diet and advertising, get in touch with your 'joy factor' and live a fabulous life!


7. Competing with the Jones'. Continually comparing yourself to others is a downwards spiral! The Jones' may have a fabulous house but I am guessing there is also a fabulous mortgage. What you see on the outside is very rarely the real deal. Make a commitment to yourself and your family to build a life of integrity from the inside, as opposed to a life showing things off externally. Build strong marriages, strong family bonds and genuine happiness.

You are Already Happy !

Advertisers would like us to believe that happiness is 'out there' somewhere and that if you buy products, happiness will come with them.

Sure, there is a certain degree of happiness when you buy something new. As you know, I have a stationery obsession, so nothing excites me more than a new notepad with matching pen! The sad thing, however, is that like any drug, the happiness wears off and needs to be topped up by another purchase. I call this 'synthetic happiness'.

I call true happiness JOY. I often say I find joy, I chase joy. It is a difficult concept to define. It is a little buzz that I get. Joy is in the weirdest places. Sometimes I feel it when I cup a little tomato growing on a bush. Sometimes I feel it when my corn seeds poke their heads up out of the dirt. Other times I feel it when I watch my sons play outside. Sometimes I feel it when I produce a hand crocheted dishcloth that is, let's say, a little wonky!

This sort of happiness comes from inside. It is far richer and far deeper than synthetic happiness.

The trick to finding this sort of joy is firstly to go looking for it. Ponder the question - what gives me joy ? It could be something so trivial, it doesn't matter. When you find something, take note of the little buzz feeling that happens when you experience that joy. Now seek out other things that bring you joy. I call this chasing my joy. Once you know the buzz feeling you will chase more and more of it.

Before you know it, you will be finding joy in the most unusual places! You will soon learn that synthetic joy just won't cut it anymore!

You will find that this kind of happiness is inside you. It has always been there. It is just that we pile so many 'things' on top of it that we can't hear it's little buzz. We pile on television blaring in the background, kids fighting, deadlines to meet, eating on the run, bills to pay, places to be,blood pressure problems, running here, running there, running late!

As we simplify our lives we peel off all those things that are piling up on us. We plan our meals to bring peace to meal times, we plan ahead so we don't race around and run late, we turn the TV off and talk to each other. We budget well to take the financial pressure off. We take the time out to walk with our partner for our health and the health of our relationship.

Little by little we peel off the layers, and there, underneath in a very quiet voice is JOY - buzzing away.

What brings you joy ? Please do share !

PS - the photo above is number one son laying in the grass in Bathurst NSW - now that brings me joy !