Being transformed by the renewing of our minds …
A while ago I showed how I was progressing with my goal of sorting the boys toys… here are the final pictures.
The Ikea Expedit unit in my boys room stores most of their toys…
And Under the bed…
Living Room storage also!
Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for almost-Wordless Wednesday!
This “work” week (Monday to Friday) I’ll be going without the Internet as part of my “40 goals in 40 weeks“. It sounded like a great idea at the time, but now I’m getting a little nervous.
In theory, I’ll be so much more productive without housework and my goals, have so much more time to do things with the kids and hubby, and hopefully be a little more active. At least that was what I thought when I set the goal.
Why am I nervous then? I’ve come to depend on the Internet for so many things…
– Checking our bank balance
– Getting event details (facebook)
– Communicating with friends/mentor (facebook & email)
– Blogging & facebook page for my blog 🙁 – I’ll miss you all!
– Checking the weather forecast and radar for rain (before hanging the washing!)
– Paying bills
– Finding phone numbers
– Whereis or Google Maps to know how long it will take me to get somewhere
– Finding recipes
– Emailing/Skyping family overseas
– Online dictionary for checking spelling/meaning of words
– Having a laugh & being encouraged with facebook pictures!
– Checking catalogues and specials for shopping
– Finding out postcodes
and lastly…
– Googling random things I want to know!
Wow, it seems like so much when I put it in writing like that! It would have been so different being a “grown up” prior to the Internet being so commonly used!
I’m thinking what I’ll miss most though will be the the inspiration, encouragement and laughs I get each day online from friends, random facebook updates, the “happyhousewifey” community of readers (you!) and the blogs I follow.
Hubby will be “in control” of the facebook page for the week so make sure you drop by and say hello . He’s a pretty top bloke. Oh dear, this is SUCH an exercise in trust! What was I thinking?
How can you help?
1. wish me luck… along with any tips & tricks (get in quick!)
2. pray for me….
3. this week when you stumble across something really inspirational or something so hilarious that it gives your pelvic floor a workout… I’d love for you to send me a link to it via the “contact” tab above (or tag happyhousewifey if its on facebook) because I’ll be sad if I miss out on “this week” of Internet festivities!!!!! 🙂
If I get enough, next week I’ll put together a blog post of “the week that I missed” where I share some of the best links that were sent to me!
I’m off to hunt down my Refidex (street-directory). This could be a long week…
Image Credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
Yesterday it absolutely freaked me out when I realised there were only 10 more weeks until my birthday. I’ve been thinking recently about turning 28, because that means hubby will be turning 29, which means we’re nearly 30! LOL.
But that’s not what really has me freaked (I’ll deal with that next year, when its ME that’s turning 29 and one birthday away from 30). What has me freaked out this time is because my birthday is my deadline to complete my “40 goals in 40 weeks“. How am I going? I’ve crossed a lot off the list, but lets take a look at what’s left….
2 ) Learn to use manual settings on my camera to take portrait shots
I went to a one-day photography course late last year. I learnt heaps, have been playing around with settings quite a bit, and have become much better at using the semi-automatic settings (as in, I can actually use them now and get a non-blurry shot most of the time!). This is what I’d hoped to achieve through this goal, so will be happy to cross this off with a bit more practice. (If my kids let me… as you can see below, B1 is not a big fan of getting his photos taken)
4 ) Have at least one full weekend day to myself
I need to look at the calendar to work this one out. I’ve still been breastfeeding B2 twice during “day” hours, so will try to schedule it in at the last minute when we’re doing to one feed during the day.
7 ) Do 10 pages in B2’s scrapbook
So far I’ve done 7 pages (the picture of the quote at the top is from one of the pages). They’re safely tucked in the back of B1’s scrapbook because I haven’t actually purchased an album for B2 yet. #motheroftheyear
10 ) Go without internet for an entire work-week whilst at home
Again, REALLY need to look at the calendar and try to figure this one out. Hubby and I have even had a talk to try to work out when would be most convenient! (I still can’t believe how tied I am to the Internet, which is exactly why I wanted to try this!!). First I’d better pay all those bills and schedule in some serious Skype time…
25 ) Get rid of ex-demo Tupperware – sell, donate, giveaway
I’m pretty much done with this. I have one bowl I want to fill with home-made cookies and give to someone, I have an annoying basket floating around with some games gifts and I also have some keyrings. Perhaps I should do a fun giveaway on the blog with the keyrings, though would cost a small fortune in postage! Hmm…
27 ) Organize kids toys
I have worked on this a few times, each time we move the furniture around. Now I’m waiting for Starmaid 4 x 10L containers to go on special (or if you know of any other plastic tubs with lids where you can fit 2 on top of each other in an Ikea Expedit unit, let me know!) and then a bit of time without interuptions to do it. I also need to do up the pretty laminated labels for them all, once they are finally in their permanent home.
28 ) Sort & box for storage baby clothes up to size 0
I’m just about done on this one too. B2 is now wearing 0’s, so I have done up to 00’s. The mountain of Huggies boxes in the boys’ cupboard looks pretty spectacular!
29 ) Setup room for B2
When I first wrote this goal, we had planned for B2 to have his own room. We now have another person living with us, so have moved B2 in to share with B1. This goal will be crossed off as soon as the boys toys are finished being sorted, as that is the last aspect of doing the boys’ room.
30 ) Draft a book
This one sounds much bigger than it is. I’d been playing with some ideas for a gift-book, that I wanted to get printed to give to some friends. I wrote up a draft late-last year, but wasn’t overly happy with it. It’s been put on a back-burner. I want to try another shot.
31 ) Journal through 2 Old Testament Books
I’ve been reading both Genesis and Proverbs, but haven’t started journalling them. (See Goal 35)
34 ) Complete 4 modules of EPM
I have to attend one more seminar and meet with my mentor twice more to have completed four modules.
35 ) Journal through 5 New Testament Books
Late last year I journalled through two NT books, but am currently working through a devotional book. I’m going to try alternating my journalling days with my devotional book and see how that goes.
36 ) Have at least 5 family outing days
So far we’ve had three intentional family outing days. My favourite was when we went to bookfest and took the boys on a citycat. B1 absolutely loved it!
38 ) Have a ‘date’ night with my husband at least once a month
I’ve loved doing these each month. Sometimes we’ve gone out for an hour or two, but others we’ve stayed home and done something after the kids have gone to bed. We even got to the movies!
39 ) Play a different board-game each month with husband
Hubby and I have enjoyed trying out a few new games – we even played a game at our local Coffee Club one night!
40 ) Do monthly footprints for B2
Sometimes a little bit late, but we’re getting there! Only a few more to go until we have his entire first year in footprints.
Goal 9 ) Plant my veggie patch – CHECK!
My husband absolutely LOVES his vegetables (NOT!).
His absolute favourite is Zucchini (NOT!).
So what better way to be a lovely, devoted, supportive wife than to plant his absolute favourite vegetable in the garden, so we can have it in abundant supply!
Not only will we have copious amounts of Zucchini, but we shall have some of dear Zucchini’s closest cousin, Miss Squash! mmmm… yummm…
Ok, so many my husband isn’t super-excited about the vegetables that will come from our newly-planted vegetable patch, but I am. I LOVE Zucchini Slice, and freshy steamed squash. I have been known to eat the squash puree that I make for my babies. Not a bad mum at all, stealing food from a baby 😀
What vegetables do you have in your veggie patch, and what do you cook with them?
Goal 37 ) Cook 5 new soup recipes – CHECK!
1) Brocoli Soup
2) Cauliflower soup
3) Bacon & Corn
4) Chicken & Corn
5) Potato & Leek – BELOW!
After the lovely delivery man brought me a “medium vegetable box” containing a vegetable that I had to google to check what it was Leek, I thought it was a great opportunity to try to make a Potato & Leek Soup. I’d only ever tasted it once before at a women’s retreat, so really had no idea what I was doing. I also wanted to use up a tin of Evaporated Milk I had sitting in the pantry, so googled to see if I could find a recipe with that in it. BINGO!
But I could only find recipes with more than one Leek, a different amount of chicken stock than I had, so I decided since I’m such a pro at cooking that I would modify that recipe.
Fry in a little butter:
1 Diced Onion
1 Diced Leek
2 Cloves Minced Garlic (or finely diced)
Add roughly 600g of peeled, diced potatoes and fry for a few more minutes
Add 500mL Vegetable Stock and boil until potato cooked through
(Original recipe says 750mL Chicken stock, but I wouldn’t have wanted any more than 500mL because I like a thick soup)
Eat a Rainbow Paddle Pop
Mash with a potato masher
(Original recipe says to puree, but I liked the idea of having texture to the soup, and not having to wash my food processor!)
Mix through a 375mL Can of Evaporated Milk (I used the light one),
season with salt & pepper, and bring to boil.
SERVE
Simple, but tasty!
Goal 6) Exercise daily for 2 weeks straight – CHECK!
Having regular exercise and developing fitness for me effects my daily living far more than numbers on the scale or the clothes that I wear. I am a very blessed person to be in no way overweight. I have a curvy figure with a few bumps, but fall within the recommended BMI. For me, my weight and fitness is more about feeling good, being healthy and being proactive to keep some medical issues at bay:
Since B2 was born 5 months ago, exercise had been a bit of a struggle for me. I used to really enjoy going for walks with B1 in the pram with my iPod or with my special walking buddy. I even lost quite a few cm off my hips in my last trimester of pregnancy because of all the walking we did together (but put it back on plus more due to the bad eating and lack of exercise after he was born!).
In recent months this special walking buddy has moved overseas, and now whenever I think about going for a walk I find that I miss her terribly. It took me quite a while to realise that I was making excuse after excuse not to walk so that I didn’t miss her (eg. too hot, need to cook dinner, hard to walk with double pram etc.). As much as I pretended my excuses were legitimate, I know they’re not.
We had a friend loan us a treadmill a while back for hubby to use, and I’ve found it really helpful for when the kids are asleep. Thanks also to a very awesome deal online, I managed to get a month of membership at the gym down the road from us for $5. It was the kickstart that I needed to get back into the swing of exercise, and I’ve been really enjoying it. I’ve got 2 more weeks at the gym to go, and then I’m hoping to get medical clearance from the physio to attend a bootcamp for a few weeks.
Here’s how my fortnight looked:
Monday: Body Balance class
Tuesday: Treadmill
Wednesday: CxWorx class
Thursday: Body Balance
Friday: Treadmill
Saturday: Boxing with hubby & Treadmill
Sunday: Treadmill
Monday: Body Balance & Treadmill
Tuesday: Treadmill
Wednesday: CxWorx Class & Treadmill
Thursday: Body Balance Class & Treadmill
Friday: Treadmill & CxWorx Class
Saturday: Treadmill
Sunday: Treadmill
What’s your best excuse for getting out of exercise??
P.S. There are heaps of different websites now that offer “daily deals” that often include gym memberships or bootcamps etc. They are often only available for 24hrs, so you can sign up for emails to notify you of the deails. Some of these include Scoopon, Grabone, Spreets, Groupon, Cudo & LivingSocial.If you’ve been following my progress on my 40 goals (which I named the “b2b challenge”), here’s a bit of an update summary. It’s too much to put into individual blog posts. Thankyou to those who’ve been encouraging me along with these goals! Your support has been amazing! 🙂
2 ) Learn to use manual settings on my camera to take portrait shots
I have been reading up and playing around with it a bit. I have managed to get a few still shots using the manual settings, but lots of practice still required. I have also booked into a one-day photography course in November, which I’m really looking forward to.
6 ) Exercise daily for 2 weeks straight
hmmm… yup, tried to start this once twice. Am going well this time – am up to 9 days in a row at time of editing this 🙂
12 ) Get down to goal weight
Working on the exercise aspect, and trying to reduce junkfood. I’m finding it hard though being awake so much during the night with the kids, getting so hungry!
15 ) Toilet train B1
hehe, yup. I’m sure you’ve read the posts about this 🙂 Two steps forward, one step backwards.
18 ) Host murder-mystery party
Decided this will be with my crazy in-law siblings and we’ve tentatively set a date.
21 ) Have skin checkup
Got the referral from my GP to see the same skin specialist as last time. Yet to make appt.
23 ) Hand-make Advent calendar with B1
B1 and I started this one night. We’re about a third of the way through decorating the squares. I then have to come up with things to put into each of the 24 holes. I’ve been thinking I might make them little bits of paper with activities we can do each day, like sing Christmas carols with Ukelele (its a hubby thing), bake cookies, read a Christmas story or visit lights etc.
25 ) Get rid of ex-demo Tupperware – sell, donate, giveaway
I’ve recently listed most of it on Gumtree. Have sold one item, with about 30-40more to go!
26 ) Read “Crazy Love”
Slowly plodding along… about 1/3 of the way through.
30 ) Draft a book
This one is a bit more complicated. I’ve been playing with some ideas, but not quite sure. It’s not going to be anything fancy 🙂
32 ) Have 3 couples over to dinner
One down, two to go.
35 ) Journal through 5 New Testament Books
Am up to my 3rd.
36 ) Have at least 5 family outing days
One down, four to go.
37 ) Cook 5 new soup recipes
Four down, one to go 🙂
Ouch! Should we be struggling with this one?!
We recently had what hubby and I have deemed to be the first of our five “Family Outing” days. It wasn’t overly exciting, but it was a day spent together, and not at home. Mostly. 🙂
After an afternoon with my overseas friends and a night away visiting my lovely in-laws, we then had our “family day” – going for a short family bike ride with B1 in the morning, shopping for B1’s new undies for toilet training, having lunch together and a long drive home listening to a sermon (yay, John Piper) and chatting, ending with frozen leftovers for dinner at home. Our plans for our future outings are a bit more exciting, like strawberry picking and taking the kids on a City Cat (another of my goals).
What has struck me with this goal, though, is how hard it has been just to get a day where we don’t have things planned and can actually spend a day just as a family.
As I sit and write this blog post on a Saturday afternoon at home, I’m reminded of how nice it is though just to “be still”, to relax. When I’m home I put the pressure on myself to be “doing” all the things that need to be done – dishes, playing with kids, washing, more dishes, playdates, cleaning, errands etc. And now add my goals & blogging to the list 🙂 Often when hubby and I have a spare day or half-day we’ve got massive to-do lists to accomplish, or we’re just so tired we sleep or veg.
So my goal is to have some “free” days where we can just be together as a family. It doesn’t matter so much what we do, just that we’re not juggling housework with kids with social events or hobbies etc., and so for us the best place to do that is not at home. This is the reasons it is one of my goals, because we know it’s an area we need to work on.
So… One down, four to go! I’m looking forward to them!
What’s your favourite thing to do as a family outing?
My husband is a legend. He got dumped with delegated to being Mr Toilet-Training.
At the end of Day 5, there were still more accidents the than successes. We’ve done heaps of reading about using the intensive/3day plan etc., have been using heaps of praise, said “goodbye” to lots of poo’s & pee’s, have been running him to the toilet, giving him rewards, high-fibre snacks etc. but it’s just not happening. We are having some successes amidst the mess, but we’re still waiting for it to “click”. If it doesn’t happen though, no stress, we’ll try again later.
I always knew (from leaky nappy after leaky nappy) that he had a lot of stuff go through him, but WOW! He’s a 10 nappy a day kinda man, unfortunately! (Costs a fortune in nappies, no wonder we’re toilet training!)
But back to my legendary hubby. After days of being by B1’s side, waiting and watching, trying to entertain with toys that could be disinfected easily… They’d done duplo, read books, played with cars & tracks, done weeding, mowed the lawn, watered plants, modified a Ukelele (yup, modified a Ukelele, that’s what I said)… they were running out of stuff to do. So he created a running track in the backyard for B1 to run, similar to the way cars weave in & out of witches hats. Round and round he went. Over and over. And B2 sat in his rocker at the end and watched as B1 ran towards him, and around him, and away from him… back and forward. Over and over. And over and over. Awesome!
I’d love to hear about some of the awesome things you (or your partner/friends/family) have done whilst toilet training. Or if you have a blog post about your toilet training activities, feel free to leave a link below for me and other readers who are about to embark on this journey! 🙂
Well let me start by saying that I’m sure our toilet training will be no different to all others. Pee, Peeeee, Poo, Pee and more Poo. All over the floor. All over the toilet. Lots of soiled undies. And lots of false runs to the toilets. Then throw in a few tantrums because he wants to give up.
Does that sound familiar?
I’ve heard lots of positive feedback from people using the “intensive” method – set aside a few days and go “cold turkey” of the nappies and into undies. So that’s what we’re doing. Lots of liquid. Lots of accidents, but he’s getting the idea (so far!).
Lucky for me, hubby is “Mr Toilet Trainer”. I’m tired, so I delegated 🙂 It also seemed more practical for hubby to be the primary person as B2 is only 5 months old, so still requiring breastfeeding and lots of attention throughout the day and cannot just be “dropped” to do runs to the toilet when necessary. (Yay for me! LOL)
So how did Day One go?
The first hour had no accidents.
Then came 2 huge puddles in half an hour.
A few more runs that were half on the floor, and a little trickle in the toilet.
After lunch he had a dry nappy during nap time (yay!)
Followed by a big wee in the toilet straight after nap.
4 false attempts at poos within 20minutes….
A big accident in the yard
And then another false attempt at poos 🙂
Bring on Day Two! 🙂
