Life is a Journey not a Destination

Last night Kevin and I went to see “the Holiday”. Was a cute romantic comedy - just my cup of tea. Jude Law was incredibly sexy - I wasn’t much of a fun until now. On the way home I decided to go to the doctors as I was feeling worse and my ears were starting to hurt. Don’t quite know what the diagnosis was but I’ve got some very strong anti-boitics and feel a lot better today. I even managed to get to the gym for a weight workout so that was good. The place was busy today - myself and about 12 guys - all the women were in doing the Pump class. Have had a pretty easy day - just took the girls to the park where we had a picnic lunch and I read while they played and rode their scooters. Now I’m off to do a bit of scrapbooking, them maybe some ironing.

Well, I’m slowly recoveing from Christmas - unfortunately I’ve been unwell with a VERY sore throat, achy body and unsettled tummy. This is meant it’s been hard to get the house back to normal. Lucky for me Mum and Dad came over today and helped me restore order. Now as I look around the house it feels like home again. The girls have been pretty unhelpful and it’s taken plenty of raised voices and threats to get them tidying. I just want them to learn if they tidy as they go it doesn’t become a big job and it makes ME happy, which will in turn make THEM happy as I’ll have more time for FUN.
As the year comes to a close I’ve been considering my goals/aims for 2007. In reading today I came across the saying “renovate your life” - I love it and that’s going to be my motto for 2007. With CHristy starting school I am going to make 2007 MY YEAR. I’m still working on my goals but here’s what I’ve got so far. Many goals overlap or aid one another.

HOME
- Maintain new household routine
- Reduce processed/packaged foods/meals
- Menu plan properly and buy ONLY what is needed
- Minimise disposable products - napkins, plates, towels, containers
- Make from scratch where possiible
- Buy organic produce where possible

FINANCE
- Read up more on budgeting/finance
- Reularly review budget
- Put $50 a week into long-term savings
- Start paying extra off mortgage in June

PERSONAL
- Write in blog regularly
- Learn to download photos and update my website myself
- Work on novel for 2 hrs Mon - Thurs
- Limit e-mail/internet

Well, Christmas 2006 has come and gone. We had a busy, but fun lead up to the big day. Amy finished school a bit early on Thursday 21st when she came home sick. For the next 3 days she felt sick on and off and had a couple bouts of vomitting. Thankfully she was better by Christmas Eve night - so she only just made it. On the 23rd we had Granny and Poppa over for lunch since we wouldn’t see them Christmas Day - we just had takeaway fish (for the non-veggies) and chips - nice and easy. I also made salad and fruit salad- with ingredients from our garden and some organic produce. Was a nice few hours. Then we had our first street party in the evening. It had been raining on and off all day and we ended up under someones back verandah. Was a nice time but I had to leave early with Amy since she felt sick again and Kevin didn’t make it as he was still at work.
Christmas Eve saw me finishing our holiday baking (will not let that happen next year), making dessert for the night - Biscotten Torte (an old fav) and a choc cake, and setting up the tables for the night and for Christmas Day. Was busy but Mum and Dad helped out and by the time our friends arrived at 3pm I could sit and relax. We had our usual Dominos Pizza for dinner. The kids, Rodney and Kev made it for a swim and spa. We exchanged presents and everyone seemed to have a nice time. I can’t imagine Christmas Eve having our friends over.
I was awake about 4.30am on Christmas Day. I heard Amy awake about 5am and put herCD player on to listen to her stories - what a great kid. I went downstairs shortly after and she came downstairs about 6am. We looked at the presents but she didn’t want to open any until Christy woke up.

Well, the school holidays officially begin today, which also means the end of my “old life” as after the holidays Christy starts school and I have no more little ones at home during the day. I must admt I’m looking forward to it - partly becuase I’m looking forward to more free time for me (I plan to start writing again) and a bit of quiet and partly cause I know Christy is NEEDING to be at school (her behaviour hasn’t been the best the last couple of months but I think she’s just bored and wanting to learn).
I’ve done all my Christmas shopping (most was done by mid-Nov) and everything is wrapped. I’ve just a few things to do around the house (including Belle and the guinea pigs their Christmas baths) and lots of baking to do. After Christmas I have absolutely NO PLANS for a whole week - now I’m sure we’ll do plenty but it’s so nice to have the option to do nothing or just hang out in the pool is the weather every returns to “summer”. Not that I’m complaining too much as I do prefer cooler weather but it would be nice to be swimming over the holidays.
Poor Kevin has had a really bad week with machines at work blowing up. It’s going to cost him heaps to replace it all and the insurance company won’t cover it so he’s plenty stressed at the moment. He’d planned to have today off but in light of this weeks events couldn’t afford to take the day off. I imagine he’ll now be working all next week as well, and is thinking he might not be able to come of the houseboat either - hopefully that won’t eventuate as I know the girls would be very dissapointed.
Amy came home from school sick at 1.30pm yesterday and has been laying around ever since. Poor thing. I hope she improves soon and doesn’t give whatever it is to the rest of us.

Okay, I was doing the ironing last night and decided to see where all our clothes were made. Can I say China, China, China, oh, one from India, more from China. In the end, out of a large basket of ironing everything was made in China except for the one t-shirt from India and Kevin’s work shirt which was actually made in Australia. My wardrobe revealed a similar pattern. A couple of jackets/wraps made in Australia, everything else China. The girls clothes nearly all come from Pumpkin Patch, K-Mart or Target - nearly all China. Kevin casual clothes - China. Looks like i”m going to have to do some homework on where to buy non-Chinese clothes. Now if the clothes were made by adult Chinese working in good conditions, with decent pay I would have no problem buying them. But when we know the reality is more likely child sweat shop I can longer plead ignorance and in good conscious buy these clothes. If I can’t find non Chinese made the other option is buying second hand or pre-loved (which sounds so much better) - something I have NEVER done before - or learn to sew (which I had planned for next year anyway).
In other news, last Thursday after Amy’s School Musical (in which she did great up on stage) Kay and Mason came over for a swim. After we went to looks at the chicken and Kay spotted a baby budgie surround by the chickens. We managed to catch it and Kay has given it a clean bill of health. Christy kept calling it a fudgie instead of budgie and we thought that made a cute name. Later that day I bought him a cage and accerssoried and he seems to be settling in well.

Well, they aren’t just recent. I’ve been researching SImple Living for about a month now. Two website I’ve just discovered which really stike an accord with me (except for the religious stuff I ignore) are

http://walkslowlylivewildly.blogspot.com/

I’m in the middle of making dinner (zucchini and corn fritters
(zucchini from our garden) and veg bake) but I’m well overdue to write
in my blog so thought I’d send a QUICK update. Let’s see the last week
is the maddest of the year. On Friday 1st Dec I had a nice day
scrapbooking with leanne, we had basketball on the Saturday night and
the girls cheerleading rehearsal and presentation on the Sunday
afternoon. They were great and so pleased with their trophy’s. On
Monday 4th we had a full dress rehearsal, Amy had another on Tuesday,
which was also our 14th Wedding Anniversary. The girls stayed overnight
at Mum’s and Kevin had dinner at the Noddle Box (very nice, first time
eating here) andd saw Borat at the movies - pretty funny. The only thing I didn’t like was the “big climax” towards the end. If it really happened (and wasn’t stage) it wasn’t funny at all and would have been absolutely terrifying for the person involved.