Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of out past, brings peace for today, and creates vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie.

New Years Resolutions

So my new years resolution was to work on my



Mind


Body


and Soul.


Last year was my MASSIVE learning year that felt so out of control that my head was spinning.


I have been working through the Simple Abundance Work Book (Sarah Ban Breathnach)for the last few weeks. I have found it confronting and a bit scary but, also has opened me up a lot and I have become more focussed on what I want.


I wanted to give myself a challenge this year. After reading a passage in the book about doing something for your mind, body and spirit everyday, I thought I am lucky to do any of that once a month.


So this year I am going to give it a go. I will commit myself to writing a blog entry once a week to make me more accountable.


So today, I have started to give up coffee ( or reduce my intake of coffee) I love it. But really 6 cups a day is a bit much and I do night duty and it just explodes to way beyond six when I am on nights.

My sister in law gave me some beautiful herbal tea from the tea centre on the Gold Coast. They are delicious. So I have started on them today was “pick me up” and also “ginger kisses”.

I have also dug out the "good" tea cups and am treating myself to the gorgeous things in my life.

I will be back in a few days to update the progess of my reduced coffee intake.  Ha Ha Ha see how we go hey.

Queensland Floods

13th January 2011



So, today was the peak of the worst flood that has hit Brisbane and the South East since 1974. So much, devastation, destruction, heart ache, pain, grief. We live about 45-50 minutes north of Brisbane city. Where we are, it looks as if nothing has happened. Sure we had some rain and the roads were cut for a few hours but NOTHING compared to the rest of the state. My thoughts and prayers go to all those poor souls that have lost everything in the devastation. To the families, friends that have lost people in this tragedy. I have been glued to the TV for days. Even though they show pretty much the same footage, I feel as though I can’t walk away from it.

The floods that hit the west just after Christmas are hitting the communities, farms, families all over again. My sister who lives in South West Queensland has not had a mail delivery since before Christmas, (the mail to them is everything, because everything comes out on the mail.) Groceries, bills, newspapers, anything that they can order from a local shop will come in the mail. They are still unable to leave there property, there is still water over roads, cutting any access. Because of the dirt roads, they have no indication of when they will get out.

The situation is bad now, but will only get worse when the water recedes and the devastation really shows it self. Please don’t anyone forget over the coming months, all of the people that have suffered so much.

If you would like to donate:

Donate online, by phone, in person, internet banking or mail.

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

To volunteer to help in the clean up

http://www.volunteeringqld.org.au/

These photos are from the area around Glenmorgan and Meandarra, South West Queensland

Boys and School Camp

I said to my oldest boy, ok mate can you please take out the clothes that you wore at camp and put them next to the washing machine for me. So I go to the washing machine and there is two pairs of board shorts, 1 shirt and two pairs of undies. I called out to Jack and said I asked for all the dirty clothes darl. He comes back with that's them. I nearly died! (This is a boy that I argue with every morning to get out of the shower after his 4 minutes.)

Two days before he went to school camp I was washing, ironing, folding. I wanted him to pack his bag for camp so that he knew where everything was and what he had. I put on his bed to pack 3 pairs of track suit pants, two sets of pj's, 5 t-shirts, 2 jumpers, 3 pair of board shorts, a handful of undies, 3 singlet's, gloves, a rain coat.

I flew into 1 million questions, what about all the clothes that we packed,(he shrugged) did you have a shower (yes, it was really hot and I loved it), did you clean your teeth, (smiles and shows me his teeth), why didn't you change your clothes, ( I was so busy I didn't have time), did you have fun - yeah and my gorgeous boy goes, into a massive conversation about the fun, the activities that they did, the challenges, the self confidence that was built, the new friendships formed, the meals that they ate, the amount they laughed.

My husband and I were so proud of our 8 year old for going on camp and learning to become more independent, get out of his comfort zone in the activities that they had to do, the trust and the team that they had to build with his class mates and the challenges they completed. (eg. blind folded, tied together, walking thru bush, following markers to get to a designated spot. Possum pull where they have to trust that there team/ class mates will pull them up with a rope without dropping them).

For everything that he learned, it doesn't matter that he only changed his clothes, twice.

Grandparents Day

I have always believed that it takes a village to raise a child. So when my boys came home and said that the school was having Grandparents day I was so excited for them. My boys asked my mum and my Grandparents - their Great Grandparents. It is so important for children to have relationships with oldies and also for the older generations to keep in touch with children.


Mum and Grandma and Papa were so excited to be able to go into the class room to have a look at what the kids do. My boys go to a Montessori School so, our school is such a far cry from the way that they were taught, they were amazed at what the children learn, how they learn it and how the class room is set up. They have all of wonderful materials and activities, that are maths or language related, I had to laugh at Mum she was worried that she was going to have to do some sort of maths.
It was so lovely the response that the school received from all of the Grandparents, almost all of the children had a Grandparent with them on there journey around the class room.

My favourite part of the day was when my youngest boy was showing my Grandma how to sew. He had to thread wool into a needle, and then sew around the border of a piece of cardboard with holes punched in to it. The concentration on his face and the way that my Grandma was trying to help him was priceless. Of course tears were welling in my eyes.

my youngest showing Great Grandma how to sew.

My mum made her way around my oldest boys class room while I helped to change over the school take home readers, when she was finished she came and found me. WELL she was balling, she was so proud of her boy, she loved the class room, she loved the teacher, she loved the kids in the class.

A great day had by all, few tears from Grandparents who were so proud and lots of smiles from the kids so proud to show around there Grandparents.

Miessence

I have joined Miessence, it is a Certified Organic, Australian business, that sells beautiful, ethical, sustainable cosmetics, hair and skin care range, health and well being, mother and baby products, and some cleaning products. I joined after reading a blog and found out that the lady that was writing the blog sold Miessence.

I looked into it, went over the website about 1000 times, I kept going back and forth not knowing if this is what I wanted to do, love the products, but unsure on the sales bit.

Anway joined up and Fillipa (the lady with the blog) became my sponsor.

I am so excited with the decision that I made not just because it is a business, but I am loving the education that I am getting from learning all about the products and the garbage that we all put into our bodies. There is a healthier, cleaner, more ethical way to live and to have and income as well.

I am wanting to share what I am learning about these products with everyone, not just so they will by them and I make money, but because they are so good for our bodies, and they are so beautiful and you know that you are not putting chemicals where they shouldn’t be.

A bit about the products
Imagine the pleasure of using personal care products where every single ingredient is beneficial to your health. With every ingredient safe and even EDIBLE, each doing something great for your skin and hair – right down tho the preservatives and antioxidants.
So full of natural goodness that the ingredients list reads like something delicious, you can actually feel their energy and vitality feeding your skin.

Lessons from the Beach

The boys had five days off last week, (including the weekend). So woke up Monday morning after working all weekend and had the biggest need, craving, desire to go to the beach and suck in some beautiful sea air, get sand between my toes and chill out on the beach with my husband and kids.

So the weather starts to change and there is a cool breeze in the air the rain starts to lightly sprinkle. The boys are happy to stay at home and vege out in front of the play station. I DON’T THINK SO.

So by the time that we get there the sun is out and it is turning into a gorgeous day. I get a coffee the boys and my husband get a milkshake. We take them down to the beach and well the whinging starts...... It’s cold, I have sand in my shoes, its to windy. THEY ARE DRIVNG ME NUTS. How can you complain about being at the beach.

I decide to sit quietly sipping my coffee looking out over the water, the boats, the people fishing, watching the people walk up and down the beach. I was amazed at how my family all changed their attitude from me just sitting. They started comparing boats and which one would go faster and which one was better for fishing, they were wondering if there was any fish in the water.

I finished my coffee and laid on the beach, by now the boys were having running races on the beach, digging holes at the shore line to see how much water would go in to it.

I really took notice of how one person’s attitude, sense of calm, changed the mood so dramatically. I am so glad that we stayed and had a beautiful morning together. Instead of me throwing up my hands and telling them to get in the car and we would go home, because of the complaining. Loved it, fabulous day, fabulous lesson learned.