Merry Christmas... We think...

This was last years Christmas photo...

and this was this years...

I am not sure things have improved much!

So, on behalf of my son who clearly isn't impressed with Christmas time yet...

I just want to say to all my readers. Have a wonderful Christmas with the people you love (as well as the people you have to tolerate!!) and a safe and Happy New Year!

x

P.S linking up with Twinkle in the Eye for wordless wednesday. 

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#reverb day 13 - the selfie!

Today's prompt for #reverb12 is my favourite 'selfie' from the year.

So here it is...

Ok so it's not just of me but I love this photo of my little family, taken on the Puffing Billy while we were on holiday in Melbourne!

x

P.S Linking up with Twinkle in the Eye for Wordless Wednesday too (even though it's Thursday!) Pin It

#reverb12 Day 8: A literally 'nurtured' relationship...

Today I am following another #reverb12 prompt thanks to Kat from I Saw you dancing...

Considering the idea that nothing lasts forever: what was the most important relationship that you fostered in 2012? 


Well, I think I can say I literally fostered one important relationship this year and that was carrying our second child in my belly for nine months. I must admit though, I am not sure I nurtured that relationship too well during those nine months, as the severe morning sickness saw me have my head in some form of bucket for most of it! You can read more about the fun and games of my pregnancy here and here.
So I was extremely glad to see the birth of our second baby boy in August and it turned out that I did pretty well in the nurturing department (if i do say so myself!).
What do you think?

Images from the wonderful Kate at Kate Millard Photography. 

You can find more of Kate's gorgeous work here and here.

How will you continue to nurture it in 2013?

So in 2013, I hope to nurture this beautiful baby boy by giving him as many smiles and cuddles as he needs. I want to make him feel safe and secure in his little world and teach him that his big brothers' loud noises are nothing to be scared of! Most of all, I want him to stay little forever and never throw tantrums... EVER! (Is that too much to ask ;)

x

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#reverb12- Day 5

So todays prompt from the lovely Kat at I Saw You Dancing is...

What was your dream destination in 2012 and why? 

It can be a town, city, country or region -- real or imaginary -- and doesn't matter if you actually got there or not!

So here it is...

Source: downandoutchic.blogspot.com via jessica on Pinterest

Yep, you guessed it- it's imagined!

A space to sleep, eat, read magazines, watch movies and spend time on the laptop. 

A space where I don't have to leave for about THREE DAYS!

A space where it is clean and crisp and stays that way for those THREE DAYS!

A space where there are no midnight feeding calls, early morning wake up calls or things that go bump in the night! 

A quiet space.

Can anyone else relate?

x

P.S I am also playing along with Twinkle in the Eye for Wordless Wednesday (although I just had to add a few words!)

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Day 1 of #reverb12

This month I am taking part in #reverb12, which you can find out all about here. 

Today's prompt was the following...

Take a moment, close your eyes, take a deep breath and ask yourself the question: how do you feel...
... in your body? in your mind? in your day job? in your creative life? in your heart?

So here goes...

I must be careful that I actually don't fall asleep while I am taking my moment, thanks to the fun of a an infant and a toddler and the sleep deprivation that they can sometimes bring. I must admit however, that with any luck, we are starting to come out of the blurry night feeding haze with my now 3 month old starting to sleep pretty much through the night. I know that all of those mothers with constant night wakers/feeders/screamers may want to gauge my eyes out right now but I think I did my fair share of sleepless nights with our first born so I think its only fair that one of my children may be more of a lover of sleep! (Now you can wait with baited breath to see that tonight my little sleeper decides to have a middle of the night meltdown because I have just jinxed myself by saying out loud how lucky I am this time round!)

So now to take a deep breath and ask myself how I feel in my body? Well, the thing I love most about breast feeding is that I can eat anything and not put on too much weight, which is awesome! So, while I eat cream buns and full fat yoghurt, my baby sucks most it out of me and is my little chubba bubba! (Hubby and I are not used to having a baby that actually has fat rolls!) Having said that though, I am feeling that I do need to get back into some sort of exercise. I started at the local gym after my eldest son was born and was really getting into it! Ihave been meaning to get back into the swing of things this time around but things just keep getting in the way! I MUST start back in the New Year! 

As for my mind, it's pretty good at the moment (touch wood!). As my family and friends would know that sometimes it all gets a bit much for me and I have my meltdowns where I am totally useless for a period of time. I HATE my anxiety and depression issues but luckily for me, that same family and friends are very supportive and are always there when I need them most! 

Moving on to my day job of 'stay at home mum': I am mostly enjoying it and have little intention of going back to my nursing/midwifery for a very long time. Somedays I do feel a bit like Diver Dan from 'Seachange' when he is on his little boat going around and around in circles asking 'Dear God, help me! I'm drowning!' but after a while you figure out how to steer your boat in a straight line for a while before you the next round of big waves hit!

As for the creative part of my life - as my Mum pointed out the other day, I am a doer! I hardly talk about what I am up to, I just go ahead and do it and you all find out about it later when I put photos up on facebook, instagram or here on the blog! I am also loving just getting in and having a go at new projects that I would never have had a go at before, such as this whole #reverb12 thing!

And finally in my heart - well it's pretty full! I am surrounded by my loving family and an awesome group of friends who I can call on whenever my heart is hurting! But most of all I am living in a testosterone infused household with my three men and although they are loud and their gas smells, they do give me the best smiles and the best cuddles a girl could ask for!

So how is your mind,body and soul holding up as we near the end of 2012?

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Thank you Daycare...

I am just going to come out and say it... I am thankful for daycare! I know some people will not be happy with this statement but for me and my sanity, it is what is needed for me today!

Don't get me wrong, I love my eldest son to bits but sometimes I need that break to rest and recuperate. 

Yesterday we had a speech appointment for my eldest son and the assessment showed that he not only has a speech delay but a language delay too. So this means that now when we are doing pretend play, i need to be verbalizing all the action words that we are doing and giving him choices between two toys so that he understands the concept behind the word. An example of this is to have a fire truck, a teddy and a block in front of him and ask him to 'put the block on the fire truck'. It is probably not a good idea to ask him to 'push the fire truck over the teddy before falling off the end of the earth!'. That might be a bit much. 

Again I came away from that Speech appointment thinking I am not doing enough for my son. To try and improve my mood, we went out for lunch with a friend and her two little men. The lunch lasted about 45 minutes. Both our eldest boys spent the entire time running around the cafe and yelling at the top of their lungs and both the two younger boys spent their time crying and wanting their Mum's attention. My friend and I looked at each other and laughed at the situation that was unfolding - probably because if we didn't laugh we would cry! My friend looked as exhausted as I felt and between the two of us I could tell that being a work/farm widow was taking its toll!

Source: Uploaded by user via Miami on Pinterest

So today is daycare day...Thank goodness! It is so nice to sit down with a cup of coffee without having to have a constant running description of what I'm doing - 'Mum is picking up her cup. Mum is taking a mouthful. Mum is swallowing. Mum is putting her cup down. Mum is DESPERATELY curbing her need to go to the freezer and eat that ENTIRE tub of special ice cream! Anyway, I think you get the idea!

x

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Scrap Fabric Christmas Wreath

I am back from a lovely little break away with my two boys while Hubby was slaving away on the farm. One thing I did miss though, was my craft - I think I was having withdrawals! So when I got back I had to get into a new project straight away...

Now, I found this great idea from somewhere but now that I have gone back through my emails and Pinterest boards, do you think I can find where I found it from?! So, I am very sorry to the person who I pinched the idea from that I can't link back to you because my baby brain can't remember :(

(I do get emails sent to me from Meet Me at Mikes, Craftaholics Anonymous and Eighteen25 so more than likely I got the idea from one of these inspiring ladies!)

Anyway, back to the topic... A quick and easy Christmas Wreath....

Basically all you need is a wire coat hanger that you bend to make round, and a whole heap of different fabric scraps cut about 20cm long by about 5cm wide (you can be as rough as you like with your measurements and cutting too! Awesome, I know!). Then you just tie each of the pieces of scraps around the coat hanger, nice and close to each other so that you get a great looking wreath -like the one above - if do say so myself ;)

Note to self though: my sewing scissors are really sharp, so don't let my son grab them and then try and grab them back from him because he may just shut the scissors on my hand - and bloody nora it hurts!

x

P.S No whole pieces of fabric were hurt in the making of this item ;) Pin It

Gorgeous treasures...

Today I embarked on the epic journey back to my parents home (and also where I grew up). It was just me and the two boys (my husband had to work.)
After a four hour car ride, an hour boat trip and another hour car ride, we all arrived relatively unscathed.

So today I thought I'd show you my creative pefforts at snapping some of my Mums' gorgeous treasures.

Linking up with Twinkle in the Eye for wordless Wednesday.

X

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Crafting up a Christmas Angel...

SHhhhh... but it is a rare moment whereby both my boys are asleep at the same time!!! So, I thought I would do a quick post, showing my latest creation, while they are still in the land of nod!

In my last post, I was looking for ideas for Christmas tree toppers, and seeing as you all were either too shy, too slack or just didn't have any ideas yourselves, I had to do a little research of my own. So I started at the only place there is to start in this technological world and that is of course Pinterest. It did take me a little while but I did find a gorgeous little angel to have a go at and I found her here.

So this pretty little angel is now sitting on the top of our Christmas tree and I am so happy with how she turned out..

(I did change the design of the wings from the original Angel I found on Pinterest. I just cut out one piece of paper in the shape of a big love heart and stuck that on to the back of the base cone, which I think looks pretty good if i do say so myself!)

It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be so why not give it a go yourself.

Now I have to go because I just heard my littlest munchkin stirring for a feed - dang - no cup of tea in peace!

x


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DIY CD Christmas Banner

Following on from yesterdays Christmas kick-off, I thought I'd show you my DIY CD Christmas Banner and I how I went about it. Unfortunately for me I am not the clever one who thought of this cool idea - I found this idea here.
But I thought I'd show you how I went about it and any extra thoughts I had about the project.

What you will need:
- Old CD's
- Christmas scrap paper
- pencil
- scissors
- mod podge
- hole puncher
- ribbon
- Scrapbooking letters and embellishments.

Instructions:

1. Trace around the CD's with pencil and cut out with scissors. You will need enough pieces of paper to cover both sides of the CD's. Depending on what word you want on your banner will depend on how many CD's you will need and how many pieces of paper you will need. Eg I used the word WISH, so I needed four CD's and eight circles of scrap paper.

2. Glue the circles of paper to the CD's with Mod Podge. 

3. Put a whole in each of the CD's. I used a whole punch but the CD got stuck in the punch each time so I had to get my hubby to lever each one out with a screw driver. I have since found out that you can get special and cheap hole punching tools for such a purpose. So maybe try that instead!

4. Stick your letters on and add any embellishments you want to each CD.

5. Cut some ribbon long enough so that you can tie a knot at each CD, so they stay in place when they are hung up. 

And HEY PRESTO, you have a Christmas Banner. 

I loved making this as well as my CD Christmas decorations, which you can see here. Now don't forget, I am on the lookout for any DIY stars or angels for the top of my tree so feel free to hit me with your suggestions!

x

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Christmas is coming...

I can't believe it is halfway through November already!! This year I am really excited for the Christmas season, mainly because my eldest son is starting to get to the age where he will start 'getting' the whole festive time!

We have put the Christmas tree up already...

... I had this big plan that we would put it up while watching the Pageant on television. Unfortunately my son lasted 10 minutes watching the pageant and wanted to go outside! So we put it up the next day and my son helped a little with handing me the ornaments while I placed them so lovingly and perfectly on the tree to make it look like the trees you see in the magazines ;)

I do love going through the decorations and getting out all those special ones that you get each year - handmade ones from friends, special baby's first christmas trinkets and beautiful bought ornaments from my mum that she gives us kids every year.

This year I have two more gorgeous ornaments to add to the collection.

The first one is this cute little pewter Christmas Keepsake sleigh from Mister Minit.

 All of their ornaments come with FREE name engraving and gift pouch, so I will be getting my second sons name engraved on it to symbolize his first Christmas. Check out their website here to see their range of ornaments plus a whole lot of other great gift ideas especially for those a little difficult to buy for!

The second new ornament going on my tree this year is one that I made myself after looking on Pinterest for some christmas decorating ideas.

It's amazing what you can do with an old CD...

I got the idea for this DIY here. Stay tuned in the next couple of days to see how I did this cool decoration, as well as my own CD christmas banner.

So Christmas is definitely on it's way and I am planning to do a bit more DIY christmas fun. I could however, do with your help -we don't have a Christmas star/angel for the top of our tree yet, so if you have any DIY suggestions I would love to hear from you.

x

Linking in with Twinkle in the Eye for Flash Blog Friday...


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Cheesecake in a Jar

I have been looking at all the things you can do with Mason Jars on Pinterest for ages now and especially have liked all the gorgeous cakes that you can do in them! So finally I had a reason to make some and decided to have a go at a No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake and it was super easy....

Ingredients:

- 15 Oreo Cookies chopped in to bits
- 250 grams light cream cheese
- 250 grams light whipped cream
- 1/3 cup of sugar

Place room temperature cream cheese, sugar and 3/4 of the Oreo Cookies in to a bowl and mix with beaters.
Stir in whipped cream until well mixed in.
Pour ingredients into 4 - 8 mason jars (depending on how gluttoness you want to be!)
Put the remaining chopped Oreo's on top of each mixture.
Screw the lids on the jars and place in the fridge for about 4 hours to make sure the the mixture is set and cooled.

Open and devour!!!

It was soooo yum! Although my husband took about two mouthfuls and said it was a little sweet for him but for those of sweet tooths out there, this is a winner!

I am looking forward to trying some more handmade goodies in a jar and might even try one of those one that are all layered and look extra specky.

But I had better wait until the next hypoglycaemic event calls me to it ;)

x Pin It

Back from a beautiful holiday!

I have finally decided to get back on the blog bandwagon after a bit of a holiday break with my little family and to get back into the swing of things, I thought I would show you some of the fun we had while we were away!

The main reason we were going to Melbourne was for a friends wedding, which took place on a Friday, so we left home on Thursday and we all survived the plane flight with hardly any tears (from any of us!!). 

We stayed in a little apartment about an hour out of the city and it was an awesome location. We had some gorgeous shops and some delicious restaurants right at our doorstep.

I was so excited to see my friend on her big day and she didn't disappoint - she looked absolutely stunning. I was also excited to spend a night out with my husband and without the kids and catching up with some wonderful old friends. It was a really great day and night!

While we were in Melbourne we hired a car, which was the best thing we ever did, (seeing as how we were so far out of the city) and were able to go on some great 'day trips'. It's amazing how much holidays are so much more about fun for the kids now!

We went to the Melbourne museum, where my husband enjoyed the rock exhibition and my son loved the dinosaurs and childrens' part of the museum. I didn't really get to see too much of anything because I was too busy making sure our eldest son didn't try and climb T-Rex!

We went to the Botanic Gardens which were soooo gorgeous. It was so calming and peaceful and I was in awe of some of the beautiful big old trees! I find trees so interesting with their branches reaching out as if they are protecting their territory. 

We took a trip to the Dandenongs and had a ride on Puffing Billy, an old steam train with open air carriages. This one was mainly done for our son but I am going to admit it - it was really, really good! My son also loved it which is always a bonus!!!

 

And of course their was good food while we were away and plenty of 'coffee and cake' stops. Here is just of a snapshot of the heaven we were in...

After literally having our cake and eating it too, it was time to come home. Although we had a the best time away, we were definitely ready to come back to our own creature comforts. We were starting to get cabin fever in both the apartment and the car and as my husband says 'I am looking forward to seeing some long views again'! 

So now we are home again, and it's a nice to place to be, even if we have to do our own cooking and cleaning again....

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Its done!

Source: weheartit.com via yaga on Pinterest

Well, I did it... last day of Blogtoberfest12 today! YAY!!! Although I didn't end up blogging everyday, I am really happy with what I did achieve throughout the month! It did seem a bit ridiculous in the beginning but it's done now and a I think it did it well enough!

One thing I would have liked to have had more time to do was read some more of the other great blogs out in the internet galaxy! The problem is that I could just lose copious amounts of time delving into the world of blogging... but I have other priorities in my life, so I have to severely restrain my blog reading to short spurts.

I also want to thank you - and by 'you' I mean all of my readers. Wether you just come for a quick look or stay around for a while,  it makes me really excited to the point of childish happy dances, that I can be part of your lives in some small way! I check my blog often for comments and get that feeling like you are about to open your first christmas present, every time I see that some wonderful person has scribbled a little note to.... ME!

So now that Blogtoberfest12 has come to close, I am going to take a well earned hiatus to Melbourne with my little family! My hubby has asked me wether I will stay off the 'blogging circuit' while we are away and since I have agreed to do so... I will see you all when we get back!

x

P.S Don't tell hubby but you can see what we get up to on our holiday by following me on Instagram. ;) Pin It

Yep, everything is right...

The earth appears to be orbitting back on track today after a bit of a hellish weekend!! I won't bore you with those details...(and for those at our playgroup today - thank you for listening to my stresses and reassuring me that my life is normal!)

So, after thinking that I may sell my eldest son on eBay over the weekend (and can I say I did get a few bidders and to those hopefuls, I will keep you in mind if I am ever really strapped for cash!), as the day has gone on, his mood has improved and I might just keep him for a bit longer ;)

Today, was spent keeping my eldest son busy and active to try and reduce bed time meltdowns that we have been experiencing in this neck of the woods. We (and when I say 'we', I actually just mean my son... 'we' just sounds better!) played with little friends this morning, then ran through sprinklers in the nuddy and took a stroll down to the supermarket to wear those skinny little legs out!

And as I sit here typing, there is silence coming from big brothers room - yay! There was no hysterical tears and screaming. There was a the fairly normal 'NO' as he was led to his bed but he ACTUALLY WENT. He listened to 'The Gruffalo' (which, I do really well, if I do say so myself, complete with character voices!) and then he actually put his head on the pillow when I asked him to. I said my goodnights and after about 10 minutes of talking to himself, it has gone.... wait for it..... QUIET!!!!

Not only, is my son asleep already. The bag I purchased online for my wedding outfit arrived today (thank god it made it here in time) and it actually matches my shoes perfectly! And one of my favourite songs came on the radio tonight, which always transports me back to a couple of summers back, when I had no children and had time to sit down and do nothing!

Yep, everything is right with the world..... at this very moment anyway! So I am just going to savour it for as long as I can... so Adieu to you lot - I'm off to go and get some icecream and caramel topping and enjoy it in peace!!!




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Let her sleep...

I have been missing in action for a bit this last week in relation to my Blogtoberfest12 challenge which has been a bit frustrating...but sometimes life gets in the way of blogging...and thats ok with me.

I woke up this morning really, really tired and I think that the last 8 weeks (plus the 9 months before) of interrupted sleep and extra 'output' of energy has started catching up on me. So at least this time round I am realizing it before it's too late... (hopefully!)

Luckily for me, I have a wonderful husband who said to me this morning "it's ok to be tired, your second son is only 8 weeks old, not 18 weeks old, give yourself a break".

So maybe the daily writing challenge was a bit much to take on so early in our second child's life but I am really glad I gave it a go and am pretty happy with the posts I have put up. Even more than the posts though, I am really excited about the feedback I have received and that gives me the inspiration and encouragement to keep going... just not on such a regular basis at the moment.

So as child number one goes out the door with his Daddy to the farm for a while and child number two is falling asleep on my lap, I might just detach myself from him and the real world for just a little while.

For, that precious time from when my head hits the pillow to when someone wants something else from me will give me the restored energy to handle it!

Source: healthclicks.biz via morgey on Pinterest

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Wordless Wednesday: Food for thought...

Today, like the last couple of Wednesdays I am linking up with Twinkle in the Eye for Wordless Wednesday.

This week we are in the big smoke and our taste buds are getting a work out.... Yum!!!

Now I might just go and finish it all off with a cup of tea...Aaahh this is the life!

x

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A day to remember...

As today is Pink Ribbon day for breast cancer awareness, I took some time to remember the many beautiful women who have lost their fight against this awful disease.

Source: thisisnthappiness.com via Gabriele on Pinterest

I hope above hope, that a cure can be found so that this terrible 'C' word does not have to be apart of our vocabulary anymore.

Extra warm wishes to any of you that need a little bit extra today.

x

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I need your help!

I am getting a bit excited at the moment because in a couple of weeks my little family and I are off to Melbourne for a little holiday and to a good friends wedding- Yay! First of all though, I have to get through Blogtoberfest12 and the dilemma of what accessories to wear with my new wedding outfit. So I could do with your suggestions...

Here is a sneak peek of the dress and shoes...

and I have this bolero from my wedding...

but I am wondering, do I try and dye it a red/orange colour to match the outfit? Or do I buy a new one and if so what colour and from where? I wouldn't mind a vintage looking one.

Also, I need earrings and a bag. I am thinking vintage inspired for both as well, so your suggestions for colours and where to find them would be very much appreciated!

I am looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

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Mixed media canvas

I am over half way of Blogtoberfest12 and really I don't think I have done too bad an effort for my first time...

Anyway, this afternoon I am off to a baby shower and didn't really have time to go and buy a present for the babe to be, so I thought I would make something instead. I am loving doing mixed media canvases when I get the time and I thought the lack of a present would be a great chance to get creative again.

So here is the final result...

I hope the mum to be enjoys this as much as I enjoyed making it!

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6 things learned going to Speech Pathology for my child...

At 2 and a half years old my eldest son is definitely lagging in the talking department. He is getting there slowly. We have started taking him to a speech pathologist which is helping and we are starting to understand him a bit more, but I am amazed the things i've learnt about a child's speech development while going to these appointments.

Here is what I've learned so far...

1. Research shows that children with slow language development have found to be lacking in Zinc and Molybdenum Chloride. We have now started our son on both these supplements.

2. Our son has not lost his sucking reflex, so this means that when he swallows his tongue goes up instead of down, which in turn effects his speech.

3. My son has always stuffed entire bits of food into his mouth and not finished his mouthful before going for the next bit of food, and he drools a bit more than the average kid. It turns out he has an under-sensitized palette which means he actually cant feel that he hasn't finished his mouthful before going for his next bite. So it was suggested that we give our son really cold, spicy or hot food to awaken his palette, especially before doing his speech exercises.

4. Because our son had lots of ear problems when he was younger and eventually had to have grommets put in his ears, he is now more acutely aware of all the noises he can finally hear. This means, however, that he can easily be distracted if their are too many noises going on at once. So when doing the recommended speech exercises with him, there needs to be no outside noise.

5. When undertaking the speech exercises we are to let our son lead the play. We are to use three to four word sentences only and just basically narrate what is going on and what he is doing. We are not supposed to ask what he is doing.

6. The last thing I have learned is that it is quite hard for an adult to talk in three to four word sentences, without asking questions, when you put your mind to it! Go on I dare you to give it a try?

So although it is mighty frustrating when your child can't tell you what is wrong or what he wants, we are getting there and at least we get to have more ice-cream for the greater good of his speech!

Source: kevinandamanda.com via Tabby on Pinterest

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Thankful Thursday

Today I am playing along with kate says stuff for Thankful Thursday.

This week I am thankful that my husband has a job. Not because he nearly lost it or because of anything bad but because we now know that a job placement can be very fragile. Someone we know has just been made redundant from their job after 10 years of loyal service. I guess redundancy is not such an uncommon thing these days but what was more upsetting and enraging for the people involved was how it was done.
For a few months there was talk in the wind that the company was on shaky foundations, but the employees weren't really told anything so went to work everyday wondering if it would be there last. A few weeks ago, the person that we know went into work, went to his desk and found his computer gone. He sat at his desk for about 30 minutes and waited to see if anyone would come and talk to him about his missing computer. Nobody did. He went home. Much later that day his boss rang him to ask him for the company car to be returned. Our friend then asked WHY? (because he had been told nothing). The boss, said "oh, the Sydney head office was supposed to ring you a couple of days ago and tell you that you have been made redundant. To the employees credit (i think) he did say "well you can come and get your company car yourselves!"
And that was that. That was how this man found out that he no longer had a job. I think that this was disgusting behaviour from the company involved. It seems like that this man was just a number to this company not a human being with bills to pay and a life to lead. This man now finds himself in the mid years of his life jobless and wondering what to do next....

Source: poppytalk.blogspot.co.uk via Dominique Eva on Pinterest

I would just like to take words from CS Lewis as some comfort for this man..

"You are never too old to set another goal 

or to dream a new dream".

x

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Wordless Wednesday: Come fly with me...

This week I am linking up with my little drummer boys for wordless wednesday.

Last weekend it was one for my boys, going to the local air show to see the planes do their stuff...

What did you get up to on the weekend?

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Sand Art Fun...

Ok, I am back on the Blogtoberfest12 bandwagon after a couple of days away trying to sort out the design on my blog. I can tell you that the whole tecnological side of this blogging gig can be completely frustrating and hence time wasting. I would rather spend my time crafting and creating, than fluffing around with html codes and jpegs!!!

So now that I have my awesome new header (thanks again Leanne from Graphics By L - you can find her gorgeous work here.), I'm back with some crafty fun that I did with my eldest son over the weekend.

Have you ever seen Sand Art? While at our local Kindy market I bought a Sand Art Card for $5. Sand art is a specially designed laser cut card, that you can then create pictures from by removing the cover paper and pouring the coloured sand all over the exposed sticky section of the card.

My son had a picture of a car on his card, so we peeled off each section of the car and covered it with different coloured sand...

... my son seemed to be only dump the sand in one spot but that was ok because I got to rub it all over the card with his hand which worked just as well. 

And this was the final result...

We had heaps of sand left over (admittedly all over the table!) so we swept it into up and made our own sand art. I just painted glue on a piece of paper and then got my son to pour on the left over sand and brush it all over the page... 

Overall this craft was a bit messy but I don't think as messy as painting - at least with this you just brush off the sand and don't have to worry about paint stains on your clothes. You could also use glitter instead of coloured sand. 

I hope this gives you some inspiration to do some craft with the little people in you life...

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My new look blog...

So here it is, my new look blog. I hope you like it as much as I do!!! I want to say a big thank you to Leanne from Graphics by L for designing my awesome Title Header. I love it!


Leanne is married, with 3 gorgeous little girls and lives on a farm at Narridy in the Mid-North, South Australia.

With a passion for creation and a love for bright, meaningful artwork, Graphics by L has taken form.  It started with her purchase of a new jigsaw cutter from Bunnings and cutting out door signs, word art, memory books...and has evolved into unique personalised canvas and photo prints, as well as canvas art.

image source

So head on over Leanne's facebook page and have a look at all her great work (and tell her I sent you!). You won't be disappointed.

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If you never try, you'll never know...

To those of you that read my blog on a regular basis, you may have noticed that I missed a day yesterday of the Blogtoberfest12 challenge.

Instead I did some behind the scenes work, like spending two hours trying to figure out how to get two social media icons on here so that you can follow me on Pinterest and Twitter if you like. I finally got there in the end and you can find them on the right hand side column --------->

I am trying to make this blog feel a bit more like it's really mine, instead of the generic blog look that I already have (and so does a whole lot of other people probably!). So I have enlisted the help of Leanne from Graphics by L by to help me design a better header that shows my style a bit more. I got her email today with what she has come up with and I am really excited to show you all....but first I have to figure out how to change my blog look!!! 

In the next couple of days I will be playing around with my layout and design so don't think you've come to the wrong blog - it's still me and I still have lots of great stuff to write about in the months ahead.

So, for the next couple of days, when trying to deal with the technological world and giving my blog a facelift, the following will be my mantra...

Source: atleastiwilldiefree.tumblr.com via Adela on Pinterest

Wish me luck and I'll see you on the other side.

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Thankful Thursday

Today I have linked up with Kate Says Stuff for Thankful Thursday and today I am thankful for my Mum.

My mum has been staying with us for the week and it couldn't have come at a better time. As my two boys grow, their demands on me get bigger as well, so it has been so lovely to have my Mum here to halve the load. When you are breast feeding a baby and your elder child wants your attention too, it is just so nice to have someone here that you trust to entertain and love you children without a fuss.

As I feel guilty for being so tired and needing an afternoon nap, my mum reminds me that I have been up half the night with a newborn, and having half my nutrients sucked out of me is going to dwindle my energy levels. Mum sends me to bed while she takes care of the house. I am thankful for not having to change nappies, do baths or clean up after tea for the week while she is here.

I am thankful that my children also get to go to the playground with their "Ma", hear her singing all the nursery rhymes that I can never remember, have picnics with her on our back lawn and have stories read to them before bed.

So Mum, thank you so much for all that you do for me and my family, we don't know what we would do with out you.

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Wordless Wednesday: A day at the beach.

I've just linked up with twinkle in the eye for Wordless Wednesday. So here are a few photos that were taken a little while ago with my whole family at the beaches where I grew up. Enjoy...

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