Busy!?

I bumped into a school Mum at the shopping centre last week. The conversation was pretty standard ‘Hi! How are you? Busy?’ My reply was ‘No actually-I have been saying no to things lately and it is lovely!’ 

She looked at me like I had just grown another head and didn’t know what to say-the conversation ended there.

It was odd!

I have really been pulling back by saying no to things that I normally would have said yes to-I don’t think though that I was a huge yes girl before. People often say ‘oh you have four kids you must be soooo busy!’ Well, I guess so in the everyday sense but I don’t find that overwhelming. We seem to be moving in a manageable rhythm-that has taken a while to get to and I am hanging on to it for a while.

I truly believe you are as busy as you want to make yourself. The boys only started soccer this year and Digby does cubs. They have training once a week and a game on Saturday and Digby has cubs once a week (with camps etc thrown in but always with plenty of notice). That is enough-I already hang out for Wednesday when there is no-where we have to be! 

Why is it being ‘busy’ is held up as a good thing? I looked for a funny meme about busy Mums but they mostly just pissed me off (working mum vs. stay at home mum etc-which is bullshit) so instead here is a bathroom inspiration picture that I can’t get out of my mind lately!

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I found this beauty over at La la lovely a daily read of mine!

Lunchlady…

I love baking. Truly! I love cooking for the people I love (even the people I just like 😉 However, I am not great at the everyday baking. The boys are ravenous when they get home from school so it was time to get my arse into gear and sort that shit out.

Enter Lunchlady AKA:Kate

I have been following her BF Rohan (AKA: Whole Larder Love) for quite a while which of course led me to Kate. She started blogging about food last year when her daughter was being bullied for taking homemade food to school for lunch. Her aim is to build a supportive community to share recipes and help each other with the daily task of feeding our families. Great, no!?

She has motivated me to stop buying shapes in packets and stuff the boys lunch boxes with great simple things I have made. First cabs of the rank were bread rolls, Anzac biscuits and a banana cake. 

The boys were very happy with their treats and I was hooked. I was up before them all and it was delightful. Cup of tea in hand, radio on I baked and warmed the kitchen and filled the vintage cake tins that usually just hang out in the cupboard. 

I cannot recommend it enough. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be edible-go on, get baking!

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The other plus was there was enough for the next day! I think jam drops and raspberry slice might be next…I hope you might be swayed into getting your baking on as well!

Pretty flowers and Belted calloways

I took time off from being a Mama this past weekend to get my floral & management pants on. I was hired to do the flowers for a Kingaroy Wedding as well as be there to run the Wedding day. My star ’employee’ Kay (AKA:My Mum) came along for the ride-thank god too because I could NOT have done it without her!

It is always a massive job (albeit one I enjoy) and Monday brings downtime to just do NOTHING! 

I had my first go at decorating a Bridal arch and I am quite pleased with how it turned out…

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I can’t wait to see the professional shots by the girls from Naomi V Photography. Both Sheila & Kylie are delightful. It is always nice to be able to hang out with other vendors- and of course it is even better when they are great!

I also got to see some of my fave bovines-belted calloways. Hamish & Fergus live right in front of the cabin we stayed in-they are just lovely!

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I will show you more when they become available-looking forward to it. 

I hope you had a great weekend and have a chance to just relax this week xo

Pinewood derby day!

Wikipedia tells us that the first Pinewood derby was run on May 15, 1953 at the Scout House in California. The idea came from their pack leader whose son was too young to participate in the Soapbox derby. Clever. In May 2005, the Boy Scouts of America registered Pinewood Derby as an official trademark-serious business!

Last Sunday was Pinewood derby day for Digbys cub pack! Digby and Michael have been working on the car for a few weeks now and were both excited to see how their creation would fare against the others.

We converged on the scout hut which really is a tin shed with some insulation. It was HOT to say the least. The parents retreated outside to catch some of the breeze while the cubs, scouts and leaders weighed, registered and prepared to race.

It is of course a nerds heaven with an intense track and a timing system to rival the olympics. The rules are 3 pages long friends-this is not for the feint hearted!

I was asked to be a judge in the intermission. I was the only female and didn’t really get much of a say (Men and Women really are different, no!?). Anyway we came to a decision, trophies were handed out, tears were shed.

Digbys speedy piece of wood came 9th out of 41-he was chuffed!

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Do you pinewood derby?

Affordable or laughable?

Watching the news tonight there was a story about a real estate boom in Brisbane and Toowoomba. Apparently prices have risen promisingly (great for sellers) while remaining affordable (great for buyers). Now this sounds great, yes? Well they went on to say that ‘entry level properties’ were being snapped up by young couples and families around the early 800 thousand dollar mark.

Am I crackers in thinking this is not cheap? How in the hell are ‘young families’ affording these bargains!?

We are deliberately looking out of the city at properties that are not above 230K. Which (assuming we can get a mortgage) would see our repayments sit at around $400 a week. That to me is affordable. That would mean that we can still cover our bills, the kids extra curricular activities and have coffee/dinner/holidays without wanting to vomit at the debt we are swimming in.

Neither of us are interested in mansions, multiple bathrooms, cinema rooms, parents retreats. The things that attract us are big yards, room for bmx tracks, chooks, vege patches, fire pits and maybe even a goat. When you can get all of that 40 mins from the heart of the city for under $250K why wouldn’t you check it out?

On the note about ‘small’ housing The house that AM built posted a beautiful example yesterday that she found on Jessica Helgerson Interior Designs website. It is just perfect.

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Every day life

Sometimes I mope around feeling rather ‘bored’. There is (always) plenty to do but of course it is not always things I want to do. Housework is repetitive, monotonous and largely thankless. It does give me a thrill to go to bed with a tidy house but that thrill is quickly overtaken the next day by the ‘what the hell is the point’ feeling. I find motivation comes and goes like the tide. Some weeks I am all about Donna hay magazine reading and menu planning. Other weeks I am the queen of throwing what ever the hell falls out of the fridge into a pan (these are always more expensive weeks as I frequent the supermarket at least once a day!). 

Now I will not deny that there is comfort for me knowing that I have nowhere to be. Staying in my pyjamas all day rates as a favourite pastime-honestly. But there is also something to be said for getting yourself out of the house and seeing what is going on in the big bad world. 

Everyday life can be monotone but it can also be beautiful-I just need to shake it up occasionally to remember how good the slow life can be.

ImageA bit of sitting above the dishwasher reading while I cook dinner helps to keep things interesting also (this is a particularly coveted spot in Winter-the rising heat is a winner!).

This to that?

Ok, ok, this may be stretching it a bit but what do you reckon…this….

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to (something like) this…

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Yes or no? We are off to stay in the above beauty for a week-so excited!!!!! Will be taking many decorating notes while we sit by the pool and cook pizzas on the outdoor pizza oven (or while we walk 100m to a beautiful little coffee shop) oh the choices!