Some Unintentional but Much Needed Quiet Time

We had alot of fun this festive season. Family have been here visiting from New York and Dublin, so there was alot of family get togethers, sight seeing and catching up. Christmas swung around before we knew it.

We have a Christmas Eve that is the same every year. I guess it has unintentionally become a tradition for us, but we love it. Always hanging out at home together, an early dinner, Mass, driving around all the fabulous local Christmas lights, home, kids to bed, red wine poured, the last of the Christmas presents out to be wrapped, the Melbourne Myer Bowl Christmas Carols on tele and then we watch Love Actually. We never tire of it. We always laugh about it. We love it though. Our in laws are here this year, so it was nice to do it with them as well.

An early start on Christmas Day - 3.45am. WHAT??!! It was back to bed for that young lady, with them both finally waking at a much more decent hour of 7.30am. Oh, the excitement of Santa's visit and receiving much anticipated and hoped for gifts. Santa didn't fail to deliver this year!

A busy morning prepping and finishing organising Christmas lunch - 13 adults and 6 kids this year. A very fun day - food, laughs, drinks, karaoke, cleaning up, more drinks, exhaustion. A very fun day spent with family.

Then Boxing Day rolls around - another unintentional tradition - any friends who are in Sydney come in to say hello, swim, eat, share a bevvie and a few laughs and it is always a fantastic day spent with great people.

Towards the end of the day though I started to feel really off. Mum had a bit of a bug on Christmas Day and spent most of the day upstairs in bed. I thought I was getting her bug. I felt dreadful and had a fairly early night. 5am the next morning it was clear that Miss Z had caught Nanny's bug, and she spent the next 24 hours vomitting. Poor little poppet. Miss C seemed fine. As for me, I couldn't drag myself out of bed. I don't think I have ever felt so unwell. So off I went to the doctor yesterday and it turns out it is a flu virus and an ear infection - who knew!? The rest of yesterday I spent snoozing on the lounge. Today I am feeling brighter but still achey and lethargic. I have manged to indulge in (much needed) quiet time and do a few things I enjoy most...

Gotta love the Ashes! Listening to the English supporters is almost worth watching it for that alone.

Some mindless colouring

And I finished a fantastic book, set in a beautiful coastal village I know so well.

Hopeful that tomorrow I will feel up to getting up and doing alot more. Everyone is getting cabin fever here in a huge way.

Wishing you a happy new year and all the very best for 2014.

We can learn alot from trees...

Mixed Emotions

I sit here feeling so exhausted and unmotivated.

I do have a slump every year, just after Easter. Too much chocolate and the weather getting cooler (I definitely fall into the warm weather lover category) just seems to take the wind out from under my wings. I seem to go around in circles with my chores, take longer to do the things that I usually whip through, I don't exercise as I know I should and my nutrition leaves a fair bit to be desired...I put on a few kilos and all the wheels seem to fall off the wagon. I KNOW what I SHOULD be doing but I just can't seem to get motivated. This year seems to be worse; we have had the inlaws in Sydney for the past month, and have been traipsing back and forth to brother in laws 35 minutes away. With Dave's travel, the reno, school holidays and the big dog I seem to have lost my mojo in a serious way.

Regardless of all this, I have not lost touch with how blessed I truly am. I feel content and happy (even if somewhat frumpy and slothy) with my lot in life. I am surrounded by the love of two gorgeous giggling girls who fill my days with equal amounts of delight and frustration, and a big dog who does the same. I have a wonderful husband who works his butt off for our family but never forgets what really counts in life. I love my family more than I ever thought possible. I still feel an overwhelm at times that suprises me with the joy they bring me.

To get myself out of this rut I am going to do Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation Challenge. for the past few years I have been a huge fan of Holly Rigsby's FYM, which is US based. I love the forums as well as Holly's resistance and interval based workouts and have done a few of her challenges with great results. However I am finding more and more that I am missing workout with real live people (LOL) and missing gym classes! I loved Combat and Pump back in the day and I love to jog. As the 12WBT is Australian based and incorporates all types of exercise I am finding it really appealing. It kicks off on 23rd May and I will be incorporating FYM workouts, running, interval training and gym classes into my workouts. Just the kick up the pants I need right now me thinks!

So, my next post will be slightly cheerier and I am going to put my goals out there and results as I go along (don't worry, no before pics!!). If I put everything out there then i can not let myself down!

xxx

Life is full of....

boxes and trips out west at the moment...

My beloved Nanny has been very sick, in and out of intensive care. Then last Thursday she suffered a massive stroke. There have been a lot of journeys out to where she lives, 3 hours away. It is exhausting but worth the effort to spend precious moments with her. She has responded well to the stroke treatment so we are hoping the prognosis will be positive as time moves forward...and if it is not then I pray for it to be quick and painless.

The other crazy element of my life is our renovation. The building is due to commence at the end of this month. ARGH! I thought I was prepared and organised for this to start, but when you get down to the nitty gritty there is so much to do...

We are all plodding along, making the most of family time, special moments and packing and sleeping as time permits.

No quilting whatsoever though, sadly! I hope to indulge this week sometime!

Things That Make Me happy...

So my poor little blog doesn't get too neglected, once a week I am going to post one thing that makes me happy. There are so many things in my life that give me a little kick and make me feel grateful that I could do this every day...but with the daily responsibilities of life this is not realisitic but on a weekly basis....very doable!!! I should be going for months!

On Friday night our dear friends Mel, Jon and Finn came for dinner. Mel knows my favourite flowers and gave me a lovely big bunch. I didn't take a photo of these beautiful friends (who make me happy) but here is a photo of one of my life's happy moments - the beautiful tiger lily, ah the sweet smell in my family room right now gives me a lift everytime I am in there!

Something to Live Life By...

"Act as if failure is impossible, and your success will be assured. Wipe out every thought of your not achieving your objectives, be brave and set no limits on the workings of your imagination. Never be a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future...and you will see that nothing can stop you
~Anonymous