I’m hoping that by now most Australian’s have heard about the latest campaign by Animals Australia and the RSPCA to ban live animal export, and are getting behind the campaign. It is truly appalling and deeply heartbreaking to see animals being treated as our live exports are. If you don’t know anything about it please click on the link – the video is very upsetting but even the photos will give you an idea of what is going on (you can view the page without seeing the video). I thought the way our sheep were treated in the Middle East was bad enough, but our cows in Indonesia have it even worse. Torturing an animal, even one to be killed for food, is NEVER okay. That our government allows this is disgraceful and makes me embarrassed to be an Australian. Please be a voice for the animals and help stop the export.

I love my life but often find myself comparing it to those lived by many of my fav. bloggers. Unfortunately there is a BIG difference in our lifestyles – the main thing being so many are married couples, with no kids, living in the city. They have the time and freedom to do whatever they want. I wish I could remember more of what life was like back then but the old memory doesn’t work so well these days and there aren’t many photos, and definitely nothing like blogs or flickr on which I recorded daily life. I’m sure life was much more simpler – just like those of my fellow childless bloggers. We used to go the movies most weekends, had regularly weekends away, and did lots of entertaining with friends.

I know I need to stop the comparison. I have kids and our lifestyle is different and I just need to accept that. I can’t rewind the years … though it would be good if I could. Thankfully there are some bloggers I read that are at a similar stage in their life as me – with kids in school. Times change as the years go by. I really do think things are pretty good right now but I’ve been a big melancoly of late – reminicing about life before kids & life with young kids and dreaming of life when it’s just Kevin & I again. It seems we are never happy with where we’re at but life is good right now. I just need to take a bit more time to stop and smell the roses and appreciate this time in my life. I’m sure in a few years, when both the girls are in high school, I’ll be wishing for the good old days before they were teenagers .

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).

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.

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 .

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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 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 .