Life is a Journey not a Destination

1. I am so looking forward to seeing my Mum on Saturday.
2. Why is it whenever you ask kids to do something the answer is always later.?
3. When you get the urge to exercise try to do it right away before the urge goes away..
4. The internet is a big part of my life.
5. If you need anything from the shops please let me know before I go, not after.
6. Kevin is away this weekend on a trip.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to staying up late and watching the Hawks play in the last championship game, tomorrow my plans include visiting my Mum in hospital and maybe shopping or a movie and Sunday, I want to scrapbook and work on our UK trip plans!

Thanks Janet at Friday Fill Ins for getting this up early this week – means I can actually do it on Friday .

1. Why are you making yet another mess for me clean up?
2. I want you to take any great opportunity that comes your way.
3. If I’m going to do something I really don’t want to do then it will be on my terms.
4. Plant the seeds and see what happens.
5. I could use a little time out in the sunshine – with my feet up and good book in my hands.
6. Make chocolate crackles and then choc chip cookies (for tomorrow).
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching on TV the Hawks play (and hopefully win) their first grand final game , tomorrow my plans include taking Amy and some friends to Jamberoo Action Park to celebrate her birthday and Sunday, I want to do nothing much, maybe a bit of scrapbooking!

Okay, so these prompts don’t get posted until after I go to bed on Friday night so it’s always going to Saturday here in Australia .

1. A cup of tea is one of lifes little pleasures. We won’t talk about how many I have every day .
2. Dogs (and other pets) makes a place feel like home.
3. Everything has its beauty you just need to look for it.
4. As for homegrown food, can anything beat the taste of strawberries?
5. Art makes me mostly happy, but sometimes rather confused.
6. LOL I just noticed I forgot wipe the nailpolish off my arm (from giving my Mum a pedicure yesterday afternoon).
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to the Hawks (basketball team) winning their semi final match, tomorrow my plans include watching the Olypmics and some scrapbooking and Sunday, I want to have a great day out with my family – we’re going to see Dance of Desire – an Irish Dance show!

Wow, aren’t I a lucky girl? I received not one, but two, blog awards this week.

The first was from Mama Syder.

The Rules of this award are:
1. link back to the giver of the award
2. List ten things that make me Happy

3. Pass on the award

In no particular order… 10 things that make me happy…right NOW….

* The Winter Olympics (and having a big TV and 4 channels to chose from)!!!!

* Being at home

* Air conditioning (it’s been stinking hot)

* My puppies

* Cups of tea

* A clean and tidy home (it is Monday after all)

* Knowing what I’m having for dinner tonight

* That our basketball team, the Hawks, are in the semi-finals (and doing great)

* Making plans for our UK trip in June

* Connecting with real life and internet friends

My second award, the Sunshine award, comes from Vanessa.

I’m supposed to pass on these awards but that’s just too hard to do. You can find my very favourite blogs in the blog roll (hope it’s current as I’m always finding new blogs and in fact the two that passed me these awards may not even be there yet). Please feel free to accept either of these awards!

Yes, I know it’s already Saturday morning here in Australia but I saw this on Jane’s blog, Escaping the City, and thought it a fun idea. You can find the prompts at here.

1. Johnny Weir is one entertaining ice skating that I’d never heard until a few days ago.
2. I am absolutely addicted to watching the 2010 Olympics.
3. And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud ???no idea what this about.
4. Go for it if you get an urge.
5. Having sweet dreams always make me feel good when I awaken.
6. What does it take get me up and off the couch this week?.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching the Hawks play in the semi-finals, tomorrow my plans include watching more of the Olympics and Sunday, I want to watch yet more Olympics! See told you I was addicted.

One thing I neglected to talk about yesterday was our pets. Obviously the guinea pigs and birds are vegetarian. The chickens are fed a meat free laying mix. And yes, the dogs are vegetarian too. Seeing as I don’t eat meat for ethical reasons I can’t buy meat for them in good consious either. However, when Bailey was a puppy (and still growing) we did feed him good quality dry food (which contains meat). They are very healthy dogs, a nice weight (Goldies tend to be on fat side) and have nice shiny coats. Their normal dinner is made up of pasta or rice with veggies and additions like cottage cheese, eggs, and leftover tofu.

Wendy bought up iron deficiencies. This has never been a problem for me. I had a full blood test after having weight loss surgery and everything was perfect. But I guess it’s something to be aware for Christy as she gets older.

Amanda – I don’t worry so much about food combining but I try and make sure to get a good balance of food over the day, or over a few days. Most days I will have a green smoothie,  and a salad for lunch so that gives me a good healthy boost to start with.

I love my vegetarian lifestyle but also know it’s very easy to be a unhealthy one – I was for many years.

Vanessa of Green Ness asked me a few questions about me being a vegetarian and rather just answering her I thought I might do a post about it as I don’t think I ever have for some odd reason.

So back to the beginning. It was early November 2004 and I commented, yet again, to Kevin that “if I had a personal chief I’d become a vegetarian”. This time his reply was “well, why don’t you just do it?” Shocked I said because it was too hard and I don’t want to have make two different meals every night. I was even more shocked when he said he’d eat whatever I made at home. WOW! Even I was impressed with my hubby. There were a few periods when I’m sure he regretted agreeing to eat vegetarian at home but I think he’s reasonably happy these days.

Now, the main reason I wanted to be vegetarian was that I don’t like the way food animals are treated.  If you’re in the dark and want to learn more go visit Animals Australia. When I made this decision there was very little in the range of free-range meat but these day I don’t feel the need to kill animals to meet my nutrient requirements and I don’t think I would like the taste now. I will buy free-range ham and meat for Kevin & Amy (but the meat has to be cooked outside as I can no longer stand the smell). I eat eggs from my own chickens and eat dairy (trying to get organic where possible). I know I probably shouldn’t have milk (diary cows aren’t treated the best either and I LOVE cows) but for now I buy organic.

Amy and Kevin will have meat when out and Christy is vegetarian – but only because she has such a limited diet – every couple of months she will eat a little bit of free-range ham. I don’t like them eating meat that isn’t free-range but they make their own decisions.

Now that I’ve been a vegetarian for over 5 years I have quite a large range of recipes to choose from so variety and choice isn’t the problem it was when I started. I do try to plan our meals for the week to make sure we’re having a good variety and not falling into the trap of pasta or rice every night. I also keep some meals  and things like falafels/veggie snitzels in the freezer for quick easy meals. Because a lot of meals are one dish type meals they really are easy to prepare (unlike meat and a variety of veg).

Please feel free to ask any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer.

Fresh summer fruit…what more can I say. My favs. are mangos,cherries, watermelon & raspberries.
And strawberries fresh from our garden!!

Of course, you can always put it on pavlova nests with cream for a REALLY yummy desert.

Then we have salad…I have this for lunch nearly every day during the Summer..changing it up a bit each day for variety.

and plenty of barbeques…especially when entertaining and when on holidays…

And lets not forget my current favourite breakfasts…cheese on toast…

and green smoothies…

and corn thins with hummus…

Then we have dinners made with produce from the garden – zuchinni slice…

and feta & cherry tomato frittata…

and lastly we have the yummy treats….banana goji muffins…

and of course nothing says Summer like a bowl of  ice cream…

and even better is homemade ice-cream.

Hope I haven’t made anyone too hungry and for those of you currently experiencing Winter…hope this gives you something to look forward to. Most foods I will eat year round but there are definitely some seasonal favourites. It will be interesting to do a Winter favourite post and compare.

What are your favourite foods to eat during Summer?

I have a bit of a Croc addiction!! Really….I currently have 8 pairs. Kevin and the girls all have 2 pairs as well. So I think it’s safe to say we all love Crocs.

Yesterday I finally got around to scrapbooking our trip to the Croc shop last July – oh, what fun that was. Here is the journalling…

“Okay, I have to confess our family is just a “little” bit obsessed with Crocs. And to say we were a little excited to spot the Croc shop in Perth would be a big understatement.  I can still remember Kevin telling me how good they would be for my heel spur – but I thought they were a bit ugly. We eventually all bought a pair for our houseboat holiday in Jan 2007. Once worn I’ve hardly stopped. Indeed they were fab. for the 18 month I suffered with the heel spur. Since that first pair my collection has grown vastly and includes many different style. The girls and Kevin also own a few pairs. I just lOVE them and wear them 90% of the time. They really feel great and because they are comfy I’m happy to leave them on. Oh, to live in the Croc shop!! “

Taylor of Joy of Food sent out a challenge to her readers to share the contents of their bags.

I’ve been using Fossil bags for a long time – love their style and all the pockets. Here is the one I was using up until about 2 weeks ago. This is my Summer bag, I have a blue leather bag for Winter.

Here are the normal contents of my bag, plus more often than not, my camera. I don’t usually have nail polish but this was borrowed from my beautician.

* Main wallet (new – thanks Mum!!)

* 2 other “purses” – one for grocery money and one for gift money

* Card holder (need to get a bigger one or find another way to organise them)

* At least a couple material shopping bags (these fold up so small)

* Water bottle (love this one from flylady – keep water cold ALL day long)

* Handcream, hand sanatiser, sun cream, lipstick

* Wet ones (Singles we bought in the USA)

* Panadine

* Hair elastic

* Sunglasses (if they’re not in the car)

* notebook and pen

* Gift vochuers and cards

* I always have an emergency snack which I need to restock.

Despite the pockets I still found I was losing things in this bag (as the main opening is once section), so I quite exited to find this bag organiser at Howard Storage (after seeing lots of similar things available in the States). Can you believe that everything above fits in? The few remaining items would fit but they go in pockets in my bag.

Speaking of bags, I’m currently trialing a new bag Mum bought for me on holidays. I love it and so far it’s working out great, in spite of it’s size. It’s so comfortable and seems to be lighter. It was certainly great on holidays as I could fit LOTS in it!

So now I’m going challenge you to share “what’s in your bag?”