For those of you, like me, who love chocolate there is some good news. Cadbury are now selling blocks of fairtrade milk chocolate. How wonderful is that? I haven’t bought much Cadbury over the last few years as I like to buy Fairtrade so it was fun to buy some today. I try to eat dark chocolate myself (fairtrade of course) but Christy enjoys her milk chocolate. Anyway, just wanted to make sure all my fellow chocolate lovers knew about this. I think it’s so wonderful that the cocoa workers will be get paid a decent wage and be looked after, and Cadbury aren’t even increasing the price of the blocks! So it’s really the best of both worlds.

I believe it’s already available in the UK, and Canada and New Zealand are soon to follow. I hope next year I can buy fairtrade Easter Eggs – now that would be truly great! I hate buying chocolate that I know is heavily reliant on child labour (and by default child trafficking).

Okay, I bet that title got your attention. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about – it’s the TV show “How to look good naked”. I prefer the British series by Gok Wan but there is also an American version. If you are like most women and don’t like parts of your body you really need to see this show. It is just amazing and sad at the same time. Some women hate their bodies so much. Sometimes I might dislike my body but in no way do I hate it.  Even my batwing arms, awful as they, serve as a reminder of the weight I’ve lost.

If you have never watched Gok, do yourself a favour. Either check him out on Austar/Foxtel or watch some of the episodes on youtube. He’s such a character and I love how much he loves womens bodies (even though he’s gay). Even Amy loves Gok and the show sends such a good message. I always feel happy after watching.

PERSONAL

**** Blog EVERY DAY (where possible)

Take a digital scrapbooking class – already enrolled

Look for some volunteer work (there must be something out there I’d enjoy doing)

Less time on the computer (a tough one for sure)

Complete Project Life (daily photograph)

Develop crocheting and sewing skills

Make more homemade gifts (or buy homemade if necessary)

Read more books on simple living, homemade craft, cooking, etc (borrow from library where possible)

Have a fabulous – no regrets – trip to the UK!!!

HEALTH/FITNESS/FOOD

Start and Complete the Diamond Club with Valerie Waters

Make at least one new recipe each week

Get back to menu planning

Focus on healthy foods for the whole family

HOME

Work on making my home more “homey” with craft and handmade items

Incorporate detailed cleaning into my weekly routine

Develop veggie garden

Try to have fresh flowers in the house most of the time

FAMILY/FRIENDS

More one on one time with all family members – make dates if need to.

Spend more time with friends

Monthly family day out (we all loved this when we were doing it)

Help Christy with her reading and spelling

Weekly game/movie night

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EDITED to add my word for the year.

I bought myself this cute little necklace a few months ago as a reminder to BELIEVE in myself (and what I can achieve). I think it’s a great word to embrace this year.

I had a 9 month old baby and we were just a family of 3…

We had two goldies – Sam & Belle….

We lived in a different home…with no thoughts of moving…

And we spent New Years Eve in Sydney with Mum & Dad and some of their friends….

What a ride the last 10 years have been! I could NEVER have imaged my life as it is now. It’s been a great 10 years as we’ve raised our babies and settled into our family roles. We’ve done a LOT of travelling, built a new home, collected more animals and had a lot of wonderful experiences. I’m hoping the next 10 years will be just as good, but I’m thinking things might be a little more stressful as we enter the teenage years .

It’s that time of year to evaluated the years goals. Very happy to see lots of yeses this year!

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* Have regular family dinners at our new kitchen table     YES

* Take more baths    NO

* Have at least 2 family vacations – at present thinking of Byron Bay and the Snowy Mountains (in Winter)   We only managed ONE – we went to Surfers Paradise.

* Continue work in veggie garden. Start to grow own seedlings.    STILL NEED TO WORK ON SEEDLINGS

* Rework weekly routine to do more detailed cleaning around home.    YES

* Read more with girls     YES

* Take dogs to dog training, and work with them during the week.   YES, THOUGH WE HAVE STOPPED THIS NOW

* Follow Red Carpet Ready health/fitness program  (signed up for the 6 week Diamond Club starting 8th Jan)    YES

* Try digital scrapbooking   TRIED BUT NO SUCCESS. HAVE SIGNED UP FOR AN ONLINE CLASS

* Teach myself to sew (Annie if you were close by we could learn together)    YES, YES, YES

* Finish knitting wrap (my friend Sue started it for me in June)   YES

* Learn to Crochet (Sue is going to teach me this June)   YES

* Borrow and read more books from the library – esp. about simple living.   YES

* Attend at least one event run by Sustainable Illawarra NO

* Try to met more online friends in real life   - YES – Kerrie AND AILSA

* Try to have some computer free days during the year – maybe even one a month   A BIG NO!

* Develop new (and old) friendships    NOT REALLY, NO NEW REAL LIFE FRIENDS

* Continue to stick to my budget and start paying extra off the mortgage   YES!!!!

* I had planned to complete Project 365 but it’s already SOLD OUT!!!   NO DID UP TILL JUNE

* Keep developing my Library of Memories (maybe rejoin this class again)   KIND OF

* Develop and expand scrapbooking skills (Mum got me a Big Picture Scrapbooking gift certificate for Christmas)  KIND OF

* Organise the spare room (and keep it tidy)  YES

* Continue to reduce, reuse and recycle   YES

* Make more gifts (instead of buying)   YES

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Those of you who are my friends on Twitter and Facebook will know that I’m really struggling to find my Christmas Spirit this year. I was really hoping after returning home rested and relaxed from our cruise that I would find the magic. But alas it’s not to be. I had thought maybe it was because I was having trouble with gift buying this year but I’ve conquered that and still haven’t found the magic. In all honestly I could easily just skip it this year.  I’m not sure if it’s because my thoughts about simple living at are odds with the season or something else is going on. The girls have started their advent calender and I’m trying to get excited but it’s just not happening.  It’s lucky I “partly” decorated  when I did, cause the rest of the decoartions are staying in their boxes this year. If things don’t change soon I’m going to have a do a big evaluation of how we handle the season for next year. We aren’t religious at all but maybe we could focus on giving or helping others instead of ourselves.

Anyway, if anyone has any (non-Christian) ideas on how I can find my Christmas spirit please me know.

I’ve been watching the show Till Debt do us Part for a while now and was inspired by Gail to convert to a cash budget. Recently I discovered her blog and just wanted to share this article she wrote about A Supersized Life.

I did enjoy my vacation to the Gold Coast very much. It was wonderful spending so much time together as a family. But I was reminded of a few things about living in a city.

First there is constant noise. Even during the night you can hear the drone of air-conditioning units and cars on the road (18 floors below). It never stops, is never peaceful – even with the doors/windows all shut (not that we did that very often). I guess if you’ve always lived in the city you are used to it but we’re used to waking up to the sounds of birds, and even distant cows. It’s actually so quiet at our house I nearly always hear the newspaper thump on the driveway at Mum’s next door when it gets delivered around 6am (it took me a LONG time to work out what the noise was).

Secondly, there is little privacy. From every verandah and most windows you can see other apartments. It’s okay for a short time but I know it would really get to me after a while. We like having windows, curtains open and are already dreading when the house next door us gets built and we’ll have to use our blinds at the front of the house way more than we do now. A HUGE part of the reason we chose the block of land we have was no back neighbours. We then designed the house to have the most privacy possible to other neighbours. The house yet to be built it the only one that will really affect us.

Thirdly, crowds and traffic. Anyone who knows me well knows I don’t like crowds and traffic. Luckily we’re up here at a time of year that isn’t too busy but a few days at the parks (on the weekends) have been a bit too much for me. Surprising the resort complex is never too crowded – considering there are 3 towers of around 180 apartments each. While some are lived in, I think most are vacation homes and not being used at this time. I’m sure I wouldn’t like to be here in the Christmas/Summer holidays.

There are a few good things about city living I guess. We love being able to duck downstairs to the grocery store and bakery. We don’t eat out but if you liked dining out there are plenty of restaurants/take-away places to chose from. It’s close to the beach – but we prefer our almost private walks at the lake. There are lots of “things” to do – lucky really cause I think you’d want to leave your home as much as possible.

I think it’s fair to say I won’t be moving to the city any time soon. Even the city in Wollongong would probably be too busy for me (though it would be nothing compared to Surfers).  The Gold Coast is a beautiful place and the weather pretty glorious but it’s not for me. If/when we move again it’ll no doubt be somewhere even quieter than we are now as we would really like to have more land.

Anyway, wonderful as our holiday was it’s nice to be back home, surrounded by all our things, our animals and the peace and quiet of our home and lives. I enjoy vactions for the break from real life they provide but they always make me appreciate my real life and my home at the same time .

Welcome to 2009!!! Here are my goals for the fabulous year ahead

* Have regular family dinners at our new kitchen table (which we’ll get in a few weeks)

* Take more baths

* Have at least 2 family vacations – at present thinking of Byron Bay and the Snowy Mountains (in Winter)

* Continue work in veggie garden. Start to grow own seedlings.

* Rework weekly routine to do more detailed cleaning around home.

* Read more with girls

* Take dogs to dog training, and work with them during the week.

* Follow Red Carpet Ready health/fitness program  (signed up for the 6 week Diamond Club starting 8th Jan)

* Try digital scrapbooking

* Teach myself to sew (Annie if you were close by we could learn together)

* Finish knitting wrap (my friend Sue started it for me in June)

* Learn to Crochet (Sue is going to teach me this June)

* Borrow and read more books from the library – esp. about simple living.

* Attend at least one event run by Sustainable Illawarra

* Try to met more online friends in real life (Kerrie you’re next on my list – gee, I sound a bit like a stalker )

* Try to have some computer free days during the year – maybe even one a month

* Develop new (and old) friendships

* Continue to stick to my budget and start paying extra off the mortgage

* I had planned to complete Project 365 but it’s already SOLD OUT!!!

* Keep developing my Library of Memories (maybe rejoin this class again)

* Develop and expand scrapbooking skills (Mum got me a Big Picture Scrapbooking gift certificate for Christmas)

* Organise the spare room (and keep it tidy)

* Continue to reduce, reuse and recycle

* Make more gifts (instead of buying)

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And now my word for 2009. Last year my word was STRENGTH but I don’t really think I lived up to it very well. Well, that was then and this is now. And I am READY!!!! Yes, my word for 2009 is READY.

I am READY…. to become Red Carpet Ready by joining the Diamond Club

I am READY… to make more friends

I am READY… to embrace all life offers

I am READY… to attain all my goals for 2009

I am READY.. to be the best mother, wife, daughter and friend I can be

I am READY…to start ticking off my life goals list

I am READY… to be more FUN

I am READY… to live more simply in my day to day life

I am READY… to become the best ME I can be

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that I’ve had a pretty good year – an excellent one fact. I’ve managed to lose more weight and maintain it for the last 6 months. And, best of all, I feel I have grown as a person and in my contentment levels being a housewife and Mum. The following are the goals I set for 2008 and how I went with them. I think it’s an improvement on last year.

HOME/GARDEN

- Work on household routine – need to incorporate detailed cleaning (Routine is now in place, still working on getting in more detailed cleaning)

- Continue work in veggie garden esp. winter production (Pretty good)

- Grow potatoes (have large pot just waiting to be used)  NO

- Get worm farm going again (may need new system)  YES, bought a new compost bin (no worms)

- Work out how to get seedlings to grow in green house (no success so far)  No, they all died again

- Shop for fruit and veg at local markets /continue to buy organic where possible Didn’t get to local market but bought more organic this year

- Learn to make more things from scratch i.e rolls, tortillas  YES, though I’m still not doing it as much as I should

FINANCE

- Start paying extra of mortgage (by mid-year)  Umm.. NO..at present will start this in Feb 09

- Start saving for UK trip (due to start next week)  YES, we’re putting aside money every week into a travel account

- Stick to budget (you never know it might happen one day) YES!!!!!!

PERSONAL

- Learn to sew (either in classes or on my own) NO, everytime I enroll in a class it gets cancelled

- Take a vegetarian cooking class at Nan Tien Temple ( have form printed out, just have to mail it off with a cheque)  Class was cancelled

- Volunteer work – still trying to find the right thing for me (already do uniform shop and canteen at school)  No luck as yet

- Make more hand-made presents (those I made this seemed to be a big hit)  YES!!!

- Organise ( and keep organised) my scrapbook space (can’t wait for my Big Picture Scrapbook class with Wendy Smedley to start)  Yes but it’s a WIP

- Develop knitting skills – make something other than scarves   NO

- Read more about simple living  YES

- Get back to working out 6 days a week (3 cardio, 3 weights)   On and off throughout the year (but regular exercise)

- Get out and enjoy life more (already started on this one)   YES!!! Definitely been a lot of FIRSTS this year.