WHY I CHOOSE MY FRIENDS WISELY NOW!

 

I recently finished crocheting a scrap wool blanket for my bed
 I really love how bright and colorful it turned out. 

Last week, my mum bumped into an old friend of mine at the supermarket who I have not seen or talked to in the last 3 years or so.  I remembered the last time we spoke, it was just a short catch-up chat but it felt more like a competition of whose life was better and whose kids were doing the best. Before this chat we use to be really good friends but she had moved away a few years earlier but was now back living in the area.

After the last conversation we had, I walked away feeling kind of defeated, she was traveling overseas, had an amazing well paying job, was newly engaged to a wonderful man, and lived in a new house. She quizzed me on what I was doing and where I was living and what my daughter was doing. 

I replied I was currently a foster carer, I still lived in the house that was slightly run down and I was homeschooling my daughter still. I was also still a single mum with no future husband prospects on the horizon.  

The comments that she made left me feeling not very encouraged or confident at all. For the next week, I stewed on them, wondering if I made the right decisions in my life or whether I had ruined not only my life but whether I had ruined my daughter's life too. It was like a thick dark blanket had settled over my heart especially at the prospect that I had set my daughter back and that she would not be able to function in society. 

I prayed and cried out to God but I could not shake the feeling of this heavy blanket or burden that had been placed in my life until I talked to my mum about what was happening. She spoke light and love back into my heart and life by helping me to see that it was all coming down to my friend's insecurities and problems within her own life.

Reflecting upon our conversation I could see the insecurities and mixing with my own insecurities about whether I was on the right track, helped me to step back and reflect upon areas of my life and I could see that I could make some changes. 

The most important change was to stop letting other people's opinions rule how I live my life and to not dwell on them, making me think less of myself. I could reflect quickly incase there maybe areas of blindness in my life that might need attention but I usually take advice from people I trust and have a stronger relationship with than from people who I bump into occasionally.

I now choose my friends carefully and definitely choose to surround myself with people who love and encourage me instead of people who have strong opinions about how I should be living my life and who choose to pull me down through negativity. This brings so much freedom and peace into my life.

 

 

Most Important Place on Earth

My most recent crochet project of Eeyore for my daughter 

For me home is the most important place on earth, because of who I share my home with. My home is a place of security not only for myself but for those who are either living here or for those who are staying with us temporarily.

Its important to me to provide a place of love and healing for the foster children that we have had staying with us and for them its important to feel secure and protected especially when they have come from a place of being unprotected and unstable. 

They can feel the need to find some control either through acting out in fear or frustration or being fearful and insecure causing them to be clingy. Finding some kind of routine is important to building security within a child's life. It does not have to be complicated just a simple morning and evening routine is all that is needed.

Knowing that after waking, that its breakfast time and after breakfast its time to get dressed and get the day started, is all that's needed for a morning routine. For the evening routine, its as simple as dinner, bath, book and bedtime, brings such a peace into their lives but it also helps with bedtime battles too.

Opening my home has been a real blessed within my life and my daughter's life too, its been hard and challenging too, dealing with everyone's emotions and needs, but seeing the joy come within their eyes and the pain and fear slowly fade, makes it easier and knowing that your making a difference even for a few days makes it worthwhile.

HOME

HOME

Its a healing centre...

Its a learning centre...

Its a place where love is born and where life's last breathe occurs...

When its such an important place, a sacred place for many, why then has it been left neglected.

In such a time of panic and confusion, home can be a place of peace and renewal against the storms of life.

A home must be built, not just from bricks, mortar and wood, but from love and a willingness to lay aside ourselves and serve those who God has placed within our lives whether its husbands, children, extended family members or those who are less fortunate within our communities.

Within our homes we can grow and learn to better ourselves and others through many opportunites especially now thanks to the internet, we can connect more easily through social media, but there are many people who even with all these advances are lonely and vulnerable.  

For myself, my home is a place of refuge especially at the moment with the Coronavirus panic that is happening around Australia at the moment, seeing first hand the supermarket shelves empty of essential foods and toilet paper makes me thankful for the small stockpile that I have on hand in case of emergencies. 

My home is also a place for health, over the last few months we have been following the low fodmap elimination diet, trying to work out my daughter's food allergies. So far the biggest result has been learning that she is lacose intolerant but we have also seen problems with gluten so now she is currently doing the six week gluten challenge for a blood test for celiac disease.

Lastly my home is a learning centre now that I'm currently studying a diploma in health science. I have homeschooled my daughter here but i have also leanrt new skills here too such as cooking from scratch and crochet and knitting. Considering that we are learning all the time if we slow down from the busyness and learn to appreciate the simple things in life, there really is life and love that can be found within our homes. 

AM I CRAZY?

Am I Crazy?

For wanting to change the course of my life...of my family's life...

I think I am just crazy enough to do it...

Following dreams are scary right? Stepping off the edge is scary too? But what I have come to realize lately that staying in the same place and not moving is even scarier... Living a life stuck in fear is not who we are called to be by God..

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control... 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

Fear comes in many forms within our lives such as fear of snakes or spiders (I really do not like spiders...Yuck!) or fear of living alone or with someone or it could be the fear of failure that stops us from moving forward.

I have had many time in my life where I have had a little fear like a huntsman just chilling on my wall catching bugs, yes my heart skips a beat or two and a few choice words my escape my lips but then I move to find the fly spray so I can deal with it, but then there are those times when I have been completely paralyzed with fear unsure of how to deal with it.

One of those times has been slowly building over the last few years especially now that my daughter has just turned 18, I am now at a crossroad of what now? I have home schooled her for the last 10-11 years and she is just finishing up so I am closing that chapter of my life so what now? Do I step back on the treadmill of working 9-5 or is there something more?

Here is where I have been stuck.. Do I want to be like the others around me, where wealth and big houses and new cars are the normal...or do I chose something different? 

Do I want to keep up with the Jones's or do I want to be crazy and step off in a new direction?

To be honest when I have really chosen to be normal 

I am a Christian 

I home schooled my daughter

I am a single mother

I am a university student at the age of 39

After a long time of prayer I have decided to bring back my blog so I can document my journey into...

URBAN HOMESTEADING!!!!

For now I'm not moving because I cant afford it but I also want to build up my skills in many areas such soap making, candle making, cooking and growing my own food.

So I am beginning my journey into homesteading by learning to cook many things from scratch because my daughter has just been told she has to strictly eat Gluten Free but currently today is the second day of SPRING so I am going to begin weeding and starting my vegetable garden.

Next step I want to begin is ... CHICKENS!! Yay I am so excited to set up a pen and a home for them!

 I am lucky that my parents own a few acres with fruit trees and a vegetable garden too so I do have room to expand over there too.. maybe into meat chicken in the future.

But for now I just need to begin with small steps...inside and outside my home....I really need to declutter as well.

MANY CHANGES COME SOON.....

Not only in my life but also on the blog

SAY TUNED!!!!

 

NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

DAY 1 - 1950s HOMEMAKING EXPERIMENT

I slept in.

Don't think I need to say anymore!

I felt behind before I had even gotten out of bed. I started anyway beginning at step 1. I made it all the way to step 7 on the cleaning list that I found yesterday. Here's the link in case you missed it - http://www.jenbutneverjenn.com/2010/05/keeping-of-house-1950s-style.html
I did skip over step 8 & 9 but I managed even managed step 10 all before lunch.



Some background information before I begin with my excuse for sleeping in. The kids slept in too so don't worry I woke up when they did. I am a single mum to a 17 year old daughter, Miss E, and I'm also a foster mum to 2 children, a girl aged 3 and a boy aged 4. So I'm busy. Also 4 months ago I slipped and fell in my backyard and broke my ankle and leg, which is a major reason for the mess plus throw in little kids and its a disaster!

Slowly but surely I'm on the mend but the key word is slowly, which is frustrating because I really want to have a tidy house where we can invite friends over without embarrassment.

First up step 1 and 2 of the cleaning schedule was to fold back the covers or in my case doona and open the windows and curtains, I then threw on my dressing gown and got the kids up. It was just a quick breakfast because it was so late so the kids had toast with cheese spread and I had coffee and raisin toast with peanut butter.

After breakfast and getting dressed, I dropped the kids at day care, which happens on Fridays, I came home and tidied the kitchen and did the breakfast dishes.

My mum rang and we made plans to meet at the pool to exercise, so that took care of the 10 minutes of exercise. I put on a load of washing and I went and had a shower and completed step 7. I also made my bed while I was in my room.

We had an early lunch because I had to drive 30 minutes away to drop my daughter off at a birthday party, I then met up with my mum at the pool where we walked in the pool for about an hour.

It was time for a coffee once we had finished and we also enjoyed a raspberry and white chocolate muffin. I quickly snuck to the grocery store before I went and picked up the kids from day care.

I stopped on the way home and picked myself up some satay chicken from the local Chinese shop, made it home and fed the kids dinner and gave them a bath and then it was early to bed because they didn't have a nap.

No complaining from me because it meant that I was able to eat my dinner in peace for a change. Plus the bonus is that Miss E had youth group with the birthday girl tonight and my dad is picking her up after its finished.

I also hung out the washing and put the kids clothes on to soak over night so my laundry is all caught up. Double Bonus!

Now its time to relax and put my feet up and definitely early to bed, I'm exhausted!

Dishes done and kitchen cleaned before bed!

1950's HOMEMAKING EXPERIMENT!

Waking up today, I just feel so utterly defeated with my home. Its an absolute mess, things everywhere and piles of items that need to be sorted through and put away or even better thrown out. The floor needs vacuuming and don't even look at the shower! Its just chaos and I'm done and I mean I'm really done living this way.

When did it all get so BAD!

Its not like I went to bed with a beautiful clean, tidy and organized home and then BAM get out of bed to find myself tripping over all the stuff piling up.

To be honest it's not really as bad as it seems but it just feels like every cupboard has been emptied on every surface possible.

So my solution to my homemaking problems is to turn back the clock to an era when women had immaculate homes, even though that's not what I'm aiming for, but how did they manage to have a tidy and organized homes while looking after their children and husbands, while looking fabulous too, without all our modern conveniences.

Even though its now afternoon I'm going to begin today, I was thinking of starting fresh tomorrow morning but there is no time like the present and I might even be able to go to bed feeling better than at the moment so I'm just jumping in and learning as I go.

Firstly I'm going to do some research on cleaning schedules so that I can make some goals to aim for.

This is the schedule I am going to follow-
http://www.jenbutneverjenn.com/2010/05/keeping-of-house-1950s-style.html

My chin hit the floor, oh how far I have fallen, but its only up from here, right?

I was going to just print out the list but decided I'm going to find a pretty notebook and write the list in there so it feels more authentic.

Okay now to begin today - First step is make my bed

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of day 1 of following the cleaning schedule listed above. I know I wont be able to complete it all in one day but I'm hoping that by the end of the year to be able to complete all the tasks.

So I'm committing the next 80 days to the 1950s homemaking experiment which will bring it to New Years Eve.

I'm excited for all the changes that are about to happen since they are so lone overdue but I'm excited to not be living in constant chaos and feeling defeated before I even get out of bed.

Alright early to bed for me tonight because I'm going to need to get started early to accomplish even a few tasks on the schedule.

Behind my beautifully made bed is the truth :-0

I will keep you up to date with how its all going.

NEW BLOG BY TEENAGE HOMESCHOOLER

An exciting new homeschool blog made by a teenage homeschooler with some great videos and information about different homeschool topics. There are some interviews with some wonderful experienced homeschool mums so be sure to click the link to check it out:
http://marnieadventure.blogspot.com.au/search/label/home 
*click on the tab labelled blog to see the videos.

Day 2 with Flylady!

Welcome to Day 2! Getting dressed to your shoes to start your day right has been added to shining my sink before bed. My normal time to have a shower and get dressed in the morning is after my coffee and breakfast, it can some days not happen until nearly lunch time especially if its one of the drag my feet kind of days, we all have them Right!

I did not automatically jump out of bed and jump straight into getting ready, firstly I had to let the ducks out because I had slept in and could hear that they wanted out. Once they were happy, I set about getting dressed to the shoes which I have to admit that everyday I will not be putting my shoes on but seeing how this was Sunday and we were going to church I figured I will put my shoes on too.

 

I had to laugh at this photo, its not very often I'm afraid, that we are up at 6.00am being home schoolers it's closer to 8.00am before my feet hit the floor because we tend to be night owls, but as we get further in I am hoping to change our bed time to a more reasonable hour of 10pm instead of closer to 11pm or later.

 

I finished off the day by washing the dishes and Miss E drying and putting them away and Miss E even shined my sink.



 

Day 1 with Flylady!

 

Day 1 and I was not off to a good start. I went to bed too late the night before and I had a little too much junk food the day before so when I woke up early in the morning to go and let our ducks out I was tired and I had a bad attitude. I just really could not be bothered with anything, I didn't want to tidy up and I certainly didn't want to shine my sink.

Usually after dinner I just crash even the thought of having to get up and deal with the dishes was out of the question, there was many a night where I would even leave the left over food on the plate until the next morning, How embarrassing!!

So after dinner last night you would think I would be jumping up to do the dishes and shine my sink, well think again. I just left all the dishes on the table and sat down to watch some TV, avoiding them completely. Then I saw this quote and decided that maybe shining my sink maybe be worth the trouble. 

It was 10pm at night and nearly time for  bed, but I decided that if Miss E helped me it wouldn't take long, so within 20 minutes we had loaded the dishwasher, washed and dried the few dishes that needed it and cleaned the benches.

The real surprise was this morning when I walked into our clean kitchen and for the first time in ages I had a smile on my face and peace in my heart.


God Bless
Kelly

Starting over with Flylady

Where has January gone? It seems to has rushed by and all the plans I had for using the January school holidays to sort through my home and organise it seem to have rushed by as well.

So starting today I am going to be going through Flylady's 31 days of beginner baby steps:
http://www.flylady.net/d/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/31-Beginner-BabySteps2262015.pdf

For the last 5 months I have been eating the Paleo way with the addition of some dairy. My health has improved considerably but I have realised how closely related being organised within my home and eating healthy are. If the kitchen is cluttered and dishes have not been washed I am not motivated to cook healthy meals for my family.

Its not only restricted to the kitchen I'm sad to say I have many areas of clutter that need my attention but instead of dealing with them I have been avoiding them by watching TV or being on the internet.

I know that I'm not alone, my friend and myself are committing ourselves, our families and our homes to making a change by using the flylady methods.

If you would like to follow along, click on the above link that will give you all the details and I will be posting here everyday for the next 31 days all the accomplishments and all the fails.

God bless

Kelly

New Lamb

First steps!

The next day!

 

 

 

Born 22/9/2015

 

 

The newest addition on my parents farm that I thought I would share. Miss E and I were able to watch this beautiful girl be born into the world. Best home-school lesson that wasn't even planned, we were just there at the right time. What a beautiful moment that we could share in!!

Bill Paying System!!

 

Before I can begin to explain the system that I use to pay my bills, I have to start at the beginning.

I was a new mum and I had just moved out of my parents house where they paid for everything, well I didn't have the money to pay for much anyway I was broke.

The first few months went smoothly sort of as much as it can with a newborn!  I didn't really worry about my bills because I hadn't received any yet and I thought, stupidly I might add, that they won't be much so why worry.

Then it happened, the postie came and in my hand was my very first bill, Oh boy was I in trouble, over $300 that I had to find in 2 weeks. I paid the bill but what a struggle trying to find such a large sum of money and I can tell you that over the next couple of weeks, I had other bills that were of similar amount. The stress hit me like an avalanche, laying awake at night stressing about how I was going to pay the bills, I knew that I had to come up with a way to save my sanity.

My first step was deciding that I couldn't wait for my bills to arrive and then scrap together enough money to pay them. I had to plan in advance and set the money aside so that when a bill came in, I had the money there waiting. I used this system for many years and it served us well. The only flaw in the system was that sometimes I need money either for Miss E or the car needed to be fixed and because I didn't have an emergency fund, I used the bill money like an emergency fund so there were many months that I was short.

Then when I talked to a friend she explained to me her system that she uses to pay her bills and how every time a bill arrives it states that she is in credit, naturally I asked her to show me. I couldn't believe how simple her method was.

In Australia, at the bottom of our bills we have a way to pay our bills either online or by phone using our bank called BPAY using the biller code and the customer reference number, which don't change each bill. Using the fact that these number don't change, I am able to each payday, which for me is fortnightly, to pay a certain small amount for each bill.

To work out the amount for each bill to pay, all I did was to get my last bill and looked at the total amount payable and also the billing period. Some bills are monthly and some are every three months, so depending on the billing period, I divided the bill into fortnights.

My billing period for my water bill is every three months so I know that I get paid twice every month, which is six payday over the entire bill. I divide the total amount due by six and I get the approximate amount to pay each fortnight directly by BPAY.

For example: Water bill amount total is: $96.99 divide that by 6 = $16.165
So each fortnight I would pay at the very least $17.00 on my water bill to cover the next billing period and then if I used the same amount of water, my bill would say amount owed nil or that you are in credit, which will be rolled over onto the next billing period.

I cant explain what a relief this has brought to my family and the stress that it has taken off my shoulders knowing that just by this simple method that my bills are taken care of.

Moving in a new direction :-)

 

 

it seems like a million years has flown by since I have been here  Whoops!

It has been a long time since I have updated this blog except for the last post, it was a draft that has been sitting there 6 months and I pleased to announce that we have finished the latch hook but I have been too slack and haven't made a pillow yet. Embarrassing!
I promise to post a photo soon :-)


I have decided after much thought and prayer that its time to move this blog in a new and exciting new direction, instead of  just updates about our lives and what adventures we have been living. I thought it was time to include some variety in my posts by adding some different topics. Some topics that come to mind include single parent home-schooling, cheap and healthy recipes, healthy eating and homemaking  . If you have any topics that you would like me to cover please comment below :-)


Do not be worried though, I still plan on sharing our adventures but I just wanted to include some encouragement and advice because I know from experience that being a single parent is not easy and we need to support and encourage each other and build a support network.

The first topic that I thought I would talk about is how I pay my bills and still have money left over to eat!  It was stressful when I first started having to pay the bills and to keep up to date without feeling like I was drowning but now I have a system in place where most of my bills are in credit.



Drowning in bills!!!!

Many Blessings,

 

Kelly

Learning Latch Hook Craft

Tonight I had the opportunity to teach my Mum and Miss E how to complete a latch hook kit. I have been looking for these kits online and at Spotlight and Lincraft but online were expensive and the others didn't stock them anymore.

Two weeks ago as I was going to Big W to buy a book, as we were walking past a small art & craft store, there sitting on the front shelf was latch hook kits and they were also cheap or so I thought until on Friday we went to Big W again and they were on sale so I had to purchase another kit.It might just become my new crafting obsession! Mum was with me and decided that she wanted to give Latch Hooking a try and purchased the beginner kit with just a few colours.

I had never heard of Latch Hooking until we caught up with a local home-school craft group and some of the children were completing latch hook kits that their mother had found at an op shop. Even she had been looking for the kits without any success.

Even Milly didn't want to miss out on the action :-)

What I really like about them is how simple they are to complete especially compared to either a cross-stitch or long-stitch kits. For beginners such as Miss E and Mum, they are uncomplicated and easy to get started and quick to see the results.


Once we have finished, Miss E wants to turn her creation into a pillow for her bed and Mum was talking about making a pillow as well but to use it for the lounge room. Miss E has been busy working hard to complete hers and has almost finished, once its complete I must make sure to take a photo before we make the pillow.


Stay Tuned :-)








 

Trampoline Park!

A trampoline park opened in a nearby town and Miss E visited with her youth group last night. After two hours of jumping and a quick trip to McDonalds, she arrived home tired. It is great to have a fun venue for teenagers close by because the other trampoline park is over an hour away and this park is twenty minutes away.

Last night wasn't the first time Miss E has visited the park. On Monday we met another home-schooling family with a daughter close to Miss E's age and had a wonderful time catching up and hanging out. I did film Miss E doing a front flip into the foam pit.

It was great to see the girls trying out all the different areas and encouraging each other to try different trampolines and going during school time meant that they just about had the park to themselves.

Sad Day

We received a sad call from my parents last night to say that their dog, Gypsie had been hit and killed by a car. I don't know all the details about the accident but when Mum called crying last night I think my heart just about stopped in fear that something had happened to Dad.


After the quick call from Mum, I had to break the news to Miss E and my heart broke watching her upset and in tears. It's not the first time that I have had to explain to Miss E that a beloved animal has died but it doesn't get easier each time I see her upset.

This is not the only sad news that we have had this week. On Monday as I went to check on our chickens, I could only find one rooster so I can only assume that a fox killed eight chickens. Now we have a very sad rooster that I hope the fox doesn't return to kill.

Miss E, Milly and Gypsie




RIP GYPSIE
We love and miss you!

Living Virtuously Giveaway!

Over at  www.keeperofthehomestead.com 5 lucky people have the amazing opportunity to win a copy of Erin Harrison's brand new book called:

 

In this book, I cover 24 Virtues.  

1. Love–What is virtue
2. Conduct–Modesty
3. Conversation–Being careful with our words
4. Commitment–Keeping commitments
5. Goodness–Being good and not evil
6. Helping–Learning how to be a good help meet
7. Marriage
8. Work Ethic-A,B,C,D worker
9. Being Frugal
10. Hospitality and Meal Planning–14 day meal plan with grocery list–Table manners/place setting
11. Wisdom–Being careful when spending money
12. Strength–Health and wellness
13. Confidant–Pride verses Godly confidence/Marketing
14. Contentment–Content with daily grind/week schedule
15. Compassion–Helping those in need
16. Prepared/Not Afraid
17. Skilled–Interior design
18. Known–not smearing someone's name
19. Orderly–How to organize your home
20. Joyful
21. Kindness
22. Keeping the Home–Cleaning basics and chore charts/Time management–Schedule.
23. Mothering–child training and balance
24. Praise

While I have not read this book yet, I am hoping to purchase a copy very soon as I think it would be invaluable in any homemaker's library because of the many different topics covered. I have been a follower of Erin's for sometime and I have been greatly encouraged by many of her posts.
So head on over to her blog for your chance to win and Good Luck!


Kelly

Looking at ways to save and earn money!

Now that I have decided to not work for four months I have been on the lookout for ways to save money around my home. As the saying goes, "It's easier to save money than earn money".

So I have started on one of my ideas but it's going to take a few months before I see any savings. Over here in Australia we are currently in winter especially as we live in southern Australia, it is cold, today's temperature is meant to reach 14 degrees or 57 Fahrenheit. Not the ideal temperature to start gardening but I purchased raspberry canes, a blueberry plant and 6 strawberry plants. In total they cost around $20 but with a punnet of raspberries costing $8.00 in the supermarket and a punnet of blueberries costing around $6.00 and strawberries are currently $4.00 a punnet, the savings will be great once we begin to harvest.

In March we were also given 7 one week old bantam x silkie chicks that have joined our one white hen, now they are 2 months off from hopefully producing eggs so we wont have to buy eggs and we will sell excess eggs to buy food for them and their manure will be used in the vegetable garden that I am currently work on. I have also had the idea to grow herbs seeing as I love to cook with them and any excess herbs I was think I could sell too.

Currently I have the chicken coop over the area that I will turn into a vegetable patch once the warm weather begins but they have been doing a fabulous job of scratching the dirt as well as fertilizing it so when spring arrives I can grow beautiful organic vegetables!

It amazes me that even though we only live on a surburban block there are many ways that I could not only save money but I have the potential with some hard work to make money as well. We have some fruit trees planted such as an apricot, plum, cherry and mandarin I also purchased a lemonade tree which is supposed to be a cross between lemon and mandarin. In the next couple of weeks I am hoping to buy an apple tree while the nursery is selling them bare-rooted for only $20.00.

Hard Decisions

I am sorry for the lack of posts but we are back      Hurray!

It has been a very busy time around our house lately, we have been travelling most weekends up to my brother's farm and the many social catch ups with our local home schoolers as well as with my work at after school care, we have been run off our feet with all the activities. But changes are occurring, my brother and sister-in-law have rented their farm out for a year and have decided to travel around Australia before my nephew starts school and my parents have decided to pack up their caravan and travel for about 4 months. So within a space of a few weeks all my support people will be leaving.

So then I came to the point of making the hard decision on what to do with Miss E while I went to work because it seemed to be a common question asked by many people.

Now that your mum and dad are leaving, what are your going to do with Miss E while your at work?

Well I had a few options but none of them seemed to be the right answer, including because she is 13 she could just stay at home by herself. I don't know about you but I didn't feel comfortable leaving her for at least 4 hours by herself and I would be about 30 minutes away if she needed me for anything.

So I made the decision to take myself off the roster at work for the next 4 months, so we will have more time to enjoy this:


Bush walking in the beautiful forest!

Looking for these guys in the trees!

Enjoying the scenery while we are looking!

I am looking forward to spending more time blogging about our new changes for our lives and I know it will be an interesting adventure as always.

5:2 Diet Weigh In Update!

On Monday I stepped onto the scales to weigh myself and see if the 5:2 diet was working and I'm pleased to say that I have lost 1.5kg  WooHoo!

This has been the first week which usually means that you lose a higher amount of weight so this week I might not lose as much but I'm quite happy to lose any amount of weight as long as my weight is going down.

The surprising thing is that I don't feel like I'm on a diet and that I could actually maintain this over a long period of time because I don't feel deprived of any food and no food is off limits. On Saturday night we even had fish and chips and I didn't feel guilt like I was breaking my diet because I had already fasted on Tuesday and Friday.

I have found in the past that because of this guilt of eating the wrong foods that it would be the excuse that I needed so I could give up and eat the wrong foods because trying to resist the food was hard work and then if I over indulged I would feel really guilt and it was just a vicious cycle. I just couldn't change my lifestyle to make the diet work, one day we were at home and I would be fine but the next I would have a church event or we would see family for a meal and there was no way I could stick with eating salads or counting points because all the food looked yummy!

My schedule is busy this week so I have planned my fast days for Monday and Friday so we will be home for the most of the day, on Friday we will be heading up to my brother's farm to stay so dinnertime will be the only time I would be tempted but if I stick to a small serving and watch what I eat earlier in the day I will be fine. On the normal days I think the important thing is not to overindulge because all the work on the fast days will be for nothing but I try not to limit myself so I will not feeling guilty. Everything in moderation is the key!