Mapping Out The Vision - A Spring Re-Vamp

Today is the first day of the school holidays and I feel that I finally have a chance to step back and examine this splendid life. As I have mentioned briefly, a number of different family events have meant that we have been running here and there since June.

During the last few months we have spent a lot of time on the road, living out of suitcases with friends and family or staying in hotel rooms. Whilst I love the place we stay in Sydney and love the meals, it is just so nice to come home.

Even though we have now been home for about 4 weeks, those busy weeks have seen lots of activity. Both boys were away at different times on school camps and they have had various sporting finals and events, parent teacher interviews and social functions.

During the past few months I also managed to take on some work. Luckily it is work that I can do in my own time, meaning that I have the school holidays off and can work from anywhere, provided I have an internet connection.

So with all that busyness finally finished, I am so excited by the opportunity to stop, breath and re-group.

The first thing we did was to get back into our garden, which was sadly neglected while we were away. Luckily we had a fair bit of rain which meant that things were 'wild' rather than 'dead'. It is time to undertake our spring planting regime which I love because there is so much potential and life in this season.

I am working on a new schedule which will enable me to carry out some paid work but still keep my family life in balance. At the forefront of my mind at the moment is re-vamping the following aspects:

- meal planning: slow change of meals to reflect the warmer weather and the availability of different seasonal produce.

- new budget: I have noticed a drop in fuel prices and a rise in grocery prices. This along with changes in the activities that we do means a new cash budget is required.

- new household routines: as we change from winter to summer we have different household routines, particularly with the jobs that need to be done outside. The boys are also older and are ready to add to their job lists.

- papercrafting: handmade cards and stationery are becoming increasingly popular and I am teaching more and more classes. I need to schedule my classes well in advance and have creative time for working on my new designs.

- health: re-vamping my activity schedule to reflect the warmer weather and to get back on track ( after way too many restaurant meals!!!)

- re-establish our sustainable living principles: Being away has meant that we often had to 'default' to choices that I would normally avoid. Time to re-examine the steps we take as a family to live a more natural, sustainable life.

And finally.............time to be .................slow.

Don't you just love spring. It is a time for a fresh start!

Panning for Gold

When we were away we took the opportunity to go panning for gold at Nundle. Even though it was the middle of winter in an area that often gets snow, it was really quite a beautiful day.

As I sat there, the children off doing their own panning and happily exploring all the river had to offer, I suddenly realised that I had found treasure !

No, it wasn't a gold nugget sitting in the bottom of my pan, it was uninterrupted time, seated in nature where I could hear nothing but the babbling noises of the creek.

It was delightful and the time spent there was worth it's weight in gold!

New Handmade Cards

It is so lovely to be back home again. I have been away so much over the last three months. Now, I am home to stay, for a while at least.

I took the opportunity to make some cards today. As you know, this is my therapy!

I am teaching classes based on these designs. You can check out more details on my Splendid Stamping site.

Light Show Treat

This is the result of a light show that our nine year old put on for us the other night. I couldn't believe the amazing effects !
He simply dressed himself in black and taped a glow stick to a few parts of his body.
Then he played some music and danced for us while we all sat in the darkness and watched. It was totally hypnotic!
Because the shutter was open on the camera for so long, the result was almost like melted glass.

He has asked me to tell you all " It's not always easy practicing to get this right." LOL ! Looks to me like he got it just right!

{So Sunday} Banana Pancakes

I almost forgot to save you some!

Have you ever tried homemade pancakes with banana and a drizzle of local honey ?

Have you ever eaten them, sitting in the sun on a winter day, when the sky is so blue that you are sure Spring is already here ?

Have you ever felt so...so...so.....Sunday ?

Practice Random Acts of Kindness

When we were in Sydney we were walking along in Darling Harbour when the boys found an SD card on the ground. A few weeks later when we got home, we decided that we would make it our quest to look through the photos and try and locate the owner. I had heard of someone loosing a camera once and some kind stranger viewed the photos and tracked down the owner. We knew it would be a difficult job, but thought it would be such a triumph if we could track the owner of this SD card down.


We looked all through the photos as a family, gathering clues about our mystery people - who, realistically could have lived anywhere in the world. We were so excited when we realised they were more than likely Australian. That narrowed it down to about 22 million people!

Although we could work out where they went on their holidays ( and what costumers they wore to a Halloween party! lol) We couldn't work out any way of contacting them.

Just when we were about to give up, I remembered seeing a photo of some school children and was able to zoom right in on the badge of the school uniform. We then googled the name of the school and sent the school an email with a couple of pictures attached asking them if they recognised the family.

You can imagine our delight when we were contacted by the school and the family to say the card was theirs! They lived all the way over in Western Australia.

Our boys were delighted and we thought it was hilarious that we could actually do this. Although I guess it was a little invasive for the owner, I am sure they are extremely grateful to get all their precious photos back.

The joy you get from performing an act of random kindness is fabulous....... why not give it a try sometime, you never know when the favour might be returned to you!

There's No Place Like Home

Phew! Boy is it lovely to be home.

We have been away ( with only a few days home between trips) since June. It has been a combination of reasons that have drawn us away from our home base.

Firstly, a family member's illness saw us drop everything and head away for a week. Everything worked out okay and shortly after that we headed to Sydney for what was meant to be a holiday anyway. We came home for a few days and then headed back over the mountains to see family again and make sure that everything was still going okay.

The day that we arrived home we got word that our family member was heading to Sydney for treatment and we dropped everything and raced down there to be with them. That meant another ten days away.

Basically we missed the whole of July. It went whizzing by.

All in all, it hasn't been too bad. We certainly made the best of a bad situation. Because the boys were missing school I made it my duty to give them as many educational experiences as possible. Over the next few days I will post some of the photos from the various places we visited and the things that we learned.

Here is a pic of some broad beans I snapped when we visited Taronga Zoo. They had a brilliant 'eco house' display which consisted of a house, garden and farm setup. It gave me lots of ideas and made me want to rush home to get started.

When we returned home the garden was in a pretty good state. Luckily there had been lots and lots of rain. The only damage was from the visiting king parrots that have been helping themselves to the juicy pea pods.

Living in hotels and living out of suitcases soon loses its appeal. I was surprised how adaptive my children really are. It seems that they can cope anywhere as long as we are together.