List it Tuesday ~ Alia's {to do} !

It's not often these days that I get time to sit and browse around in blog land. But I love to read the Corner View posts especially so I try to find time on a Thursday to do that. I just love 'traveling' to other parts of the world through the photos posted each week ! This last Thursday, I was traveling around and stumbled upon something that looked so neat ! And right up my alley !! List it Tuesday ! It's over at artsyville, one of my favorite artsy blogs ... and all you do is post a handwritten list and then comment to let them know you've participated ! I love it !

I've had this list saved to blog for ages now ! I had scanned it last week even and then when I was thinking about which list to post first, this one came to mind ! It was written by my Alia ... she's 7 now but she wrote it a few months ago when she was still 6. She came in and showed me one morning and totally blew my mind ! She is so like me in this area ! My little list maker ! In fact, Rory came out the other night and said "I went in to tell Alia a couple of things she needs to remember. She grabbed her little bag, found the pencil and pad inside and started making a list ! If there ever was any doubt that she was your child (uh, I'm pretty sure I remember carrying her for 9 months but whatever ... !!) this is proof !"

So ... here it is. My first List it Tuesday ! It's Alia's list of jobs so she doesn't forget ... Let me read it to you. Bed. Toilet. Breakfast. Beaky's food. (it's her job to feed the cat !) Teeth. Go to bed. (seems she's been through the day and is now at night time) Get dressed (obviously she's now slept the night) Hair. Dishwasher (she loads it) Shoes and wit sokes on your feet. (Shoes and with socks on your feet) Get your bag ready. Lunch box. If you have tim (time) you can play in your rom (room) or help your mummy pack the lunchs (lunches) or woch (watch) your Mom on the conpuoa (computer) You play a game. (you being her ...) Put my bag awe (away) Put your things from your lunch box into the dishwasher.

It's a pretty comprehensive list ! I love it !! I also love how she's illustrated it a bit. Added numbers in boxes. 2, 3, 4 and 32 ! Gotta get your priorities right ! and I especially love the check marks that show where she used it for a week !! Such a clever girl ...

Well, I'd better wrap this up. I've been downloading the photos from my camera to my computer while I wrote this ... slows things WAY down ! But the 550 photos are now on the computer, time to sort through them, get the load of laundry hung up and then think about getting ready for work. :) Hope you all have a great day !! See you soon ...

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Why My Shredder Hates Me ...

I've had a busy yet surprisingly relaxing Monday...

Want to see my to do list ?

These are just the things I listed ... not the normal, everyday things that also got done.

1. Feed Neighbor's Cat
2. Go to Shop ... get $ for cleaning lady, spending money &
something for Jono to take to class to celebrate his birthday.
Oh ... and ice too.
3. Show Jono e-cards that have arrived
4. Fix fairy lights out on back patio
5. Do one page in cookbook
6. Do one sidebar link on beans blog
7. Dust entire house
8. Quick tidy of disaster area toy room (long story)
9. Alia's new desk ... arrange
10. Photos of desk/bed (another long story) !!
11. Plant garlic
12. Send email re: meeting
13. Go through work box
14. Do a big ole' load of shredding
15. Exercise ~ walk around park. Was supposed to be 30 minutes but
ended up getting rained out after 20 !
16. Change sheets
17. Wash, Hang, Fold, Put away four loads of laundry
18. Add garlic to lentil recipe on beans blog
19. Make yogurt
20. Research cookbook/recipe copyright laws
21. Add Andrea's photo to beans
blog sidebar.

Phew !!
I can't believe I got that much done !
(Especially since I got to facebook a bit too.)
As well ~ the lady who comes and does cleaning came
today so the house is pretty darn clean !!

I sure love days that end like this !

I have 30 minutes before my 9:30 bedtime.
I need to pack lunches yet so I'd
better skedaddle !

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A Rambly Post

It's Monday morning.
6:58 am.
I've been up since 5:00 am.
It's a miracle really since there was a storm last night
which left Rory and I both tossing and turning.
Even though we went to bed at 9:30 pm
I'm not sure we were asleep before
11:00 pm !
I don't know though because I didn't look at the clock.
Not once.

This morning is a rare and different morning.
The kids don't have school.
It's a pupil free day.
Meaning, the teachers are there without the kids.

I'm letting them watch a movie
and having a bit of extra computer time this morning.
I've not done much really.
A bit of blog reading ... and commenting, something I've been bad at lately.
I've been through my google reader and
weeded out the blogs that I thought I would read but don't.
That may make it easier when I do have time to
read blogs ... to just have my favorites
in the reader.
Yep,
I think that will be
better.

I haven't decided what we are going to do today.
The fabulous lady who does some cleaning for me once a week
will be here in a couple of hours.
I'm planning to let the kids be outside and I'll do a bunch of
gardening and laundry while she's here.

We'll have some lunch and if the weather holds
we may hit the beach for a bit of a play on the rocks.
I think it's a bit chilly for swimming
but you never know.
Kids are kids and it's never too cold for swimming in their minds eyes !

Anyhoo ...
I'd better get moving.
I've got to get some photos up over
at the studio blog too
before I finish
up for
this
morning.

And the menu plan.
It's done ... just need to post it.

ps ~ have you ever had fish tacos ?
ps2 ~ the flowers in the photo above are currently blooming on my chives.
ps3 ~ rambly

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Life ... It's How You Live It.

All I can smell around here is the Jasmine. It is so beautiful. It covers the back fence on our "tuscan patio". This is the first spring that we've lived in this house and the first time we've seen it in blooom. It is glorious. Every time I open the window in this office, the smell just wafts in. It's not overpowering, just subtle and very soothing. Can you smell it ??

I've been making a few changes around here over the last couple of months. I like the results I am seeing. I'm sure I told you about our new nighttime routine. That is STILL working so well ! I'm thrilled.

Another change I've made is going to bed earlier. I had found myself in a pattern of not going to bed at the same time as Rory which left me staying up WAY too late. I'd be on facebook or reading blogs or playing games and the time would just get away from me. All fun stuff, all stuff I still do, but MUCH less now. And I'm in bed by 9:30 at the latest during the week. It's not that much later on the weekends though ... if we try to watch a movie, I inevitably fall asleep !!

I've made myself a basic morning routine that I've been able to stick to quite well. I get up at 5:00 and do my computer stuff until 6:30. I like getting this out of the way first ... otherwise, I'm wondering about it and distracted until I can get to it. Email and facebook are how I communicate with most of my family (since they live on the other side of the planet !) and I just love waking up and finding notes from them !!

At 6:30 I sit down with the rest of my cup of coffee (stone cold by now !) and my Bible. The kids are not usually up yet. But if they are I have them get a book or go do some coloring so the house is still quite quiet. I read until I'm finished. We don't have to leave the house until after 8:30 so I'm usually left with at least an hour. Since lunches are already packed, I just have to get them out of the fridge. I try to empty the dishwasher, water the garden, sometimes I do a load of laundry, make the bed, that kind of stuff. Oh yeah ... I also shower and get ready ! It really is so nice to not have to run around like a crazy lady. And you know ... I'm not grumpy either. You might think that I would be getting up that early, but not so. I love the slowness of our mornings ...

I decided too that I needed to NOT be on the computer as much as possible when my children are awake. I've really started making an effort to do stuff with them after school. I've only just started that this past week and I'll tell you, it has made a huge difference. Coupled with not letting them watch TV during the school week, I've seen incredible changes in both of them. What sort of stuff do we do ? Well Monday we sat at the dinning room table for a couple of hours writing snail mail (watch your mailboxes, I put FOUR letters in the mail to some of you just yesterday!) and playing with Alia's new spotz machine that she got for her birthday. Tuesday I took them to the toy store to spend Alia's birthday money and the money they got recently for washing/vacuuming the cars. Then we came home, put all the toys together and played. I can't tell you the last time I sat in the toy room and played with them ! It was fun. Wednesday it was raining and they hadn't watched the weekly movie they rented last week before I decided no TV. So ... I let them watch that. Yesterday we had some friends over for a play. Today ... well, Rory is usually able to come home early on a Friday afternoon so hopefully we'll get to do something fun with him !!!

It works well to spend an hour or two hanging with them. Talking. Just being together. I still have time to cook dinner while they are having baths and getting themselves ready for bed. After dinner, it's pretty much brush teeth and head towards bed. 7:30 is their bed time. Not their start to get ready for bed time ... but their in bed, lights out, done talking, going to sleep bed time. That leaves Rory and I two hours before ours ...

ANYHOO ... my computer time is up for this morning ... I've actually gone a bit over this morning writing this ... but that's ok. I do have the ability to be flexible too ... BUT, I am going to get off NOW.

Chow.

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go go go

Today has been quite busy. Go go go !! It started early. I'm so thankful that my husband brings me a cup of coffee at 5:30am to get my going each morning ! I don't think I could do it without him ...

I spent most of the morning preparing the week's menu and writing up the grocery list, before dropping Jono off at school. Alia didn't go. We've had her at the doctor a few times over the past few weeks with (minor) concerns about her hearing. Today he was supposed to flush her ears out but didn't end up needing to since the wax softener had done a good enough job. Next week we will see a specialist who will do a hearing test.

Anyway ... Alia came to art with me this morning which was a treat for her !! And for me. It was lovely to have her there again. We did half the shopping before art. First stop, my favorite organic store for all the produce and beans. Second stop, Woolies for toiletries etc ... After the art lesson, we hurried up to the doctor and then over to my all time favorite store where we get the best loose baby spinach, rocket and stone ground corn chips. I really do travel all over the place to get what we love. I picked up some triple sec so we can make margarita's tonight for the "Happy Father's Day Party" the kids and I are throwing for Rory ! We're having hot wings. Playing the Wii. Massaging his feet. Watching football. All stuff he loves. The kids are busy right now making a sign to hang with balloons !!

I had to rush home to meet with a lady who is going to come and do some cleaning here on Monday's ! I'm so excited about it. She is really friendly and professional ! I can't wait to see how she does with the cleaning. I will be cleaning/organizing/sorting at the same time so this place should shine after the two of us get finished on Monday mornings !!

Anyway ...

I'd better get out there and help ...

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{i still call australia home}

saturday
soccer is finished
neither rory nor i had to work
nothing was scheduled
the sun was shining
and the beach
was callling
to us

armed with our sunscreen

disarmed of our footwear



we set off to find a little piece of heaven



it wasn't difficult
there are so many little pieces of heaven where we live



we took the boogie boards



the kids used them in the water



and on the sand hill



and we enjoyed ourselves immensely



one more day til spring hits this sun burnt land ...



bring it on !!!

I've got to go ... but I want to leave you with a song that my American family and friends will probably not have heard. This particular version is from a Qantas commercial and I used to love it when it came on ! Thank goodness for You Tube ... I can watch it anytime I like now. Do yourself a favor, take two minutes to watch this ... it's beautiful. I love the lyrics. I'll include them underneath ...

I Still Call Australia Home
by Peter Allen
I've been to cities that never close down,
from New York to Rio and old London town,
but no matter how far or how wide I roam,
I still call Australia home.

I'm always traveling, I love being free,
and so I keep leaving the sun and the sea,
but my heart lies waiting over the foam,
I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning 'round the world,
away from their family and friends,
but as the world gets older and colder,
it's good to know where your journey ends.
Someday we'll all be together once more,
when all of the ships come back to the shore,
I’ll realise something I've always known,
I still call Australia home.

but no matter how far or wide I roam,
I still call Australia I still call Australia, I still call Australia home.
but no matter how far or wide I roam,
I still call Australia I still call Australia, I still call Australia home.

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busy

I've got pumpkin soup boiling over on the stove, a son who can't sleep because his sister is snoring, a few hours of work filing to do TONIGHT, a husband at church, a bed full of laundry that has been folded and needs to be put away before I can go to bed, partially packed lunches to be finished, dinner to be eaten (but not til husband gets home) and no time to blog !

I had to come tell you about a challenge I'm going to be starting tomorrow ... you can go read about it on my cooking blog !! And maybe you'll join me ...

Tomorrow was going to be a busy(ish) day but my morning has now cleared, thanks to a cancellation so I should actually have a bit of computer time ...

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{big day out}

Rory had work off today. The kids didn't have school. I took the day off to be with them !
What an amazing day it was too !
You all should know by now that we love bush walking.

We've been wanting to climb Mount Coolum ever since we got here but just haven't.

Today ... we did !!

We didn't check the clock when we
started
up the mountain
but we know it took us less than two hours
because
we know what time we left home
and we factored that into the time we finished.



Here's Rory checking out the view about 3/4 of the way up.



And the kids taking some photos.
I was taking photos of them and trying not to die.
Seriously, I knew I was unfit before we started up but sheesh ....



Good thing there were beautiful flowers along the way,
breathtaking views, and a family to walk with ... otherwise, I'd have turned back !





Getting to the top was such a sense of accomplishment.
And though I'd love to climb other mountains you will never find me
doing the big climbs because if the mountain has snow on it ... I'm OUT !



We got so dirty !!
On parts of the climb down, we had to sit on our bottoms and slide.
It was steep(ish) and quite slippery.
Still ... I preferred the going down over the going up !!



A portion of the view.
As Alia said "You can see the whole world from up here !"

How cool would that be ?



Trail Mix.



Note to self : Do not put choc chips in trail mix on hot day ...



Us ... at the top.



And on the way down ...
Do you see that fellow in blue ... in the photo above ?
He walked past us on our way down.
He was all decked out in climbing gear ... and had some sticks that looked like ski poles to me.
My guess is he was in his 60's.
I said to him "You're almost to the top."
And he said something that made me know this wasn't his first time.
I said as much and he answered "I try to climb this mountain once a week ..."

What an inspiration he is !



We were about 10 minutes from the bottom, on our way down, and Alia slipped.
She wasn't hurt badly, just grazed her knee.
But, of course, there were tears.
I told her to get a cuddle from Daddy (who was closer).
She did.
But the tears still persisted.
I told her to have a seat on a large rock so Daddy could pour water onto her knee.
But Jono sat down on the ground, pulled her onto his lap and said
"Here Alia, sit on me ..."

Rory and I looked at each other and just smiled.
We love our kindhearted boy !!



Here's a shot I took of the ocean on our way down.
I wish I could have taken hours and hours of photographs.
Maybe when I get a proper DSLR (and a bit more fitness), I'll do the climb by myself
so I can spend hours and hours taking photos !



And I just loved the way the same shot turned out when I was playing around with it in GIMP.



We topped off the outing with a trip to the beach.
The kids played in the park for a bit and then climbed the magnificent tree
that Rory and I were sprawled out under.
They had a bit of a play in the surf ... but not for too long ... it IS still winter here, folks !
We demolished shared three pieces of fish, a medium serve of calamari and chips too
before heading to the car to make the trip home.

We are all exhausted ... ready for a good nights sleep and back to work/school tomorrow !!

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{22 hour getaway}

Rory and I were invited to attend an awards ceremony on Friday night.
His company was up for an award on the first bridge Rory was ever involved in building.
There were five categories for awards, Rory's company WON in their category !!
It was super exciting !

The ceremony was a 'cocktail' dress, three course meal with live entertainment.
I detest getting dressed up.
I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.
But, I managed. A skirt. Heels. And hot roller curled hair.
We had a blast.

Knowing it was going to be a late night,
we booked ourselves into a hotel room adjoining the awards night venue !
We enjoyed a sleep in,
a short walk along the river in search of coffee,
and then we hit the art museum !
I was so excited when Rory suggested we go as I've been DYING to see this exhibit !

The paintings were AMAZING.
Seriously amazing.
Some people just ooze with talent.

A quick bite of sushi on our way out of the city topped off our perfect getaway nicely.

How was your weekend ?
I'm dying to come round and visit all of you.
And I will.
This afternoon ....

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[orange, glorious orange}

this week has found me up at 5:30 every morning
(and in bed by 9:00 pm !!)
rory has been bringing me a cuppa in bed
and i stay there toasty warm under the covers
drinking my coffee and reading my bible
the kids wander in later ready for a snuggle in the big bed
they bring their books

the other morning alia pulled back the curtains
to open the door for the cat to go out
and exclaimed
"mommy !! the sky is orange !!"

of course, i grabbed my camera ...

glorious. isn't it ?

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[grand adventure}

we braved the early morning hours and a long train ride
to meet cousins
half way between their place and ours
in the big city



we hit the museum





and the science center



and the park along the river

we wanted to ride the ferris wheel but we didn't
(can anyone say highway robbery?)



we marveled at the big buildings and how pretty some of them are



and mommy even pointed out the building where she used to work before jono was born

we rode the train home with the commuters
and came in to toast and omelets lovingly cooked by daddy who knew what a long day we'd had

he's a keeper
but you all should know that by now

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