This is just precious!

I have found the most awesome idea on http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/ for making a story book for your child. I loved the idea so much that I just had to share it! You can find the full post here :http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2011/08/making-book-in-photoshop-tutorial.html

When Fletcher was much younger I made him a book about pirates. I can’t find it now unfortunately so I can’t share it with you all, but this post has inspired me to start writing some custom stories for Annalise.

Its yet another rainy day here, so I will be focusing on more cleaning (groan), changing sheets (double groan) and sewing (yay!). Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday (one more sleep til Friday and then its the weekend….. quadruple yay!!!).

Kate xo

 

 

 

 

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away…..

It’s raining today and all I want to do is crawl back into my nice warm bed and sleep the day away. I don’t know what it is about the rain, but for some reason (maybe because its gloomy and dreary and I can’t do any outside activities) it makes me feel slightly morose and tired.

BUT….

Today I  am going to say “NO!” to that feeling because today is anti-procrastination day and believe me….I have been procrastinating.

Things that would only take an hour or so have been put aside and replaced with playing games and watching tv or just completely ignored…

NOT TODAY!

So here is my To Do List for today……

* Vacuum and mop

* Complete orders

* Start work on new orders

* Clean out the fridge

* Make the beds

It is likely that the act of crawling into bed will occur  later in the day for a rest….but it will be a nicely made bed and the things on my list will be done before that occurs.

Have a great day everyone

Kate xo

TGIF!

Inspection day….how I hate the words. To me it means spending the week before totally cleaning my house, 2 hours of back breaking carpet cleaning (who invented carpeting anyway?), ensuring that everything is in tip top condition, before the real estate comes in for a quick 15 minute walk through, picking up the little details that I missed. Our general inspection was today, so yesterday was the 2 hours of back breaking carpet cleaning (unfortunately a must with my 2), that followed the earlier part of the day thoroughly cleaning the kids rooms, my room and the lounge, before finishing off with mowing the back lawn. The outcome- I PASSED 🙂 Can’t you tell I am happy? Now I have another 6 months before the next one….I do have some photos of the finished rooms, I didn’t take an before ones…too embarrassed lol….

Lounge room

Annalise’s room

Fletcher’s room

My bedroom

Hall

 

After our inspection, Annalise and I took advantage of the gorgeous late winter sunshine (well sort of late winter…felt more like Spring weather to me) and went for a walk down to Spotlight. It was a wonderful day, but very tiring. Now I am looking forward to watching some YouTube and working on a new order. have a great night all

 

Kate xo

Oops….

Good morning readers! I am sorry I haven’t been back on here since we went to Melbourne.  I could rattle off a long list of excuses like I’ve been busy, we got attacked by a herd of rampaging kangaroos, the dog ate my blog, but in reality (and I cut to the chase), I have been too lazy!

So now it is update time….. I’ll start with our Melbourne trip. While it was cold and blustery on the ground, up in the air was divine!

The view from our window on Rex Airlines

All of Annalise’s appointments went well, her eyes are perfect and her Rheumatologist was extremely happy with how she is going with her JRA. The highlight of our first day there was getting to meet Jay from Play School and Home & Away!

Annalise and Jay Laga'aia in the Starlight Room

He came in and did a mini concert…I wish now I had taken my video camera 🙂 But thankfully we were able to take photos and he kindly signed some pictures for us 🙂 Even I got my photo taken with him LOL

My brush with fame 🙂

Since we got back, I have been trying to catch up on housework, sewing and crocheting. I purchased a new pattern from You Can Make This the other day and I must say I am in LOVE it with! Here is Annalise modelling her finished product:

Annalise in her new newsboy cap

Taking time to smell the flowers

And on that note, I must say farewell til next time, I have a 10 year old to get ready for school and then I have to get Annalise and myself ready as Fletch is performing at the Marketplace today for Education Week.

Have a great day everyone!

Kate xo

Getting Ready For Our First Flight….

Oh my goodness! Its hard to believe that this time tomorrow we will be up in the air on both Annalise’s and my first flight in a plane! At the moment I am experiencing many emotions, nervousness, excitement, a bit of anxiety…not a fun mix if you ask me, but I know that once I get on the plane I’ll be fine. Annalise is majorly excited though-she’s been looking forward to this since we found out that we would be flying to Melbourne (so about three months now lol) and she loves heading down to Melbourne.

Today will be my “getting ready for our trip” day. I have to pack a small bag of clothes for both Annalise and I, make sure I have all of our appointment letters together and find Annalise’s blue book. I have started getting organised for it though, I have a check list written so I know what we need to pack and I WILL be double checking it. Last time we went to Melbourne I forgot to get soap, so we had to walk around the hospital trying to find somewhere to buy some.

I love Melbourne. We have to go down on a 3 monthly basis, so that Annalise can see her Rheumatologist, get her eyes tested and see her physiotherapist. Two years ago Annalise was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and we are unable to get the specialist care we need here in Wagga Wagga. It has been hard on her, as it has spread from her left knee to both ankles and possibly her right knee, but she is a fighter. I have found this winter so far has probably been the hardest on her, with the possibly spreading to her right knee, but we manage it with Nurofen and heat packs when it gets bad and every 12 months she has steroid injections and serial casting to straighten her legs.

My baby boy (well not so much a baby anymore at the age of 10) comes home from his dad’s today! I have missed him so much and can’t wait for him to get home 🙂

This is only a short post today, because there is so much I have to do. I promise photos when I get back on Tuesday and a better post then 🙂

Have a great day,

Kate xo

TGIF and my cleaning challenges for today

Good morning everyone! Its a cold and frosty morning here in my corner of the world today, so I have decided to spend the morning catching up on cleaning and trying to keep warm 🙂

Here are the before photos of the main areas I am cleaning this morning. At least once these are done I can have people walk into the house and not have to apologize for the mess 🙂 Gotta love CHAOS hey!

Before: My loungeroom view 1

Before:My loungeroom view 2

Before: My kitchen...note the open cupboard doors that never seem to close

So here is my plan of attack:

1. Turn off the TV despite protests from the children (especially Fletch)
2. Pump up the music on the pc (I’m listening to Short Stack)
3. Set my egg timer for 15 min and start on the loungeroom
4. When timer goes off, reset for 15 min and head into the kitchen
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until these areas are done, stopping for a 15 minute break once an hour is up. Coffee and recharge batteries (mine of course)
6. Sit back and relax knowing that I have completed the 2 “main” rooms before starting on another area of the house

So here I go, blasting off in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Break time

Its been 45 minutes and I have been working consistantly, so its time for a coffee break. One room down, one to finish 🙂 Here are the photos of the now tidy and vacuumed loungeroom:

After: My Loungeroom View One.

After: My loungeroom View 2

 

Off to finish the kitchen now, will post the photos of that tomorrow. Til then, have a great day and take care.

Kate xo

School Holiday Fun!

It’s school holiday time here in my little part of the world-a time that normally I dread because it means that I never seem to have time to do anything house wise while both kids are home 🙂 I know thats a pretty weak excuse but its true. I have decided that these holidays are going to be different. I AM going to enjoy them and make the most of them!

Monday was a nice quiet day, Fletch went to a friend’s birthday party so only Annalise and myself were at home. We had a bit of a lazy day, pottering around, not really doing much.

On Tuesday I decided that the kids and I would have an outing, so we rugged up in some warm clothes (it was freezing cold with really strong winds) and hiked over the hill to the Botanical Gardens for the day. I am really proud of my kids, Annalise only needed to be carried up the hill and walked the rest of the way and Fletch walked all the way. They had a ball feeding the animals at the gardens and playing on the equipment.

Fletcher feeding a new friend

Annalise feeding the ducks

Feeding a new furry friend

We all agreed it was a wonderful day!

Yesterday was spent putting Christmas presents on layby and also spending time with my mum and brother. The kids had a ball catching up with Uncle Matt. We then had dinner with my parents and brother and Mum outdone herself as usual with a roast pork and baked vegies.

Which brings me up to today. School holidays are almost half over, Fletch is off to Canberra to visit his dad next week, so it will just be the Princess and I for the week. Today I have to cook a corned silverside, so after I have a shower and get the kids ready for the day, we’ll be heading down to the shops and getting the last couple of things that I need for dinner. Then its going to be a cleaning day! Fletch has to get his bedroom clean, I want to get the lounge and kitchen clean and then if time permits re-organise my fabric stash!

So until next time, take care and have fun!

Kate xo

A Woman’s Touch

I only have time for a short post this morning as the flu has kept me from Fluttering the past couple of days and as you can imagine, the house is not the happiest for it. But I wanted to take the time to share with you this lovely little clip that I found on YouTube the other day from Calamity Jane (1953) starring Doris Day 🙂

Hope you all have a wonderful day, I’ll be back later to post some before and after photos of my cleaning today and write a proper post 🙂

Kate xo

Fun Friday Book Review

I had the pleasure of purchasing and reading a simply amazing book this week and I just had to share it with all of you!

At a Bodyshop party a couple of months ago, I was talking with my son’s godmother about how well her children had behaved and asked her what she was doing and how she did it. My 10-year-old has been diagnosed with ADHD so as you can imagine I have researched everything I can on the internet regarding behavior and hints for having a more harmonious family life. I had racked my mother’s brains for ideas on how to get him to behave, go to bed on time AND get ready for school without my screaming, nagging, bribing him to do as he was told! My friend suggested I try this book:

Have a New Kid By Friday Image courtesy of http://www.amazon.com/Have-New-Kid-Friday-Character/dp/0800719026

I thought to myself, how can a book claim to change a child’s behaviour in only 5 days? The other books I had read claimed other things worked, such as spanking (not happy with the one), time out (tried that numerous times-made no difference to his behaviour, nor his 4-year-old sister’s), grounding etc.

Finally on Tuesday I took the plunge and headed to my local Christian bookshop. The book was on special for $15.95 (AUD) and happily I headed home with my purchase, looking forward to reading it. I’m glad I did.

For those of you who see the word “Christian Bookshop” and imagine that this book is full of religious suggestions-think again! This book is not only directed to the married couple with 2 children, but also single parents (like myself), parents of babies, pre teens and teens. The methods in the book are tried and true and written so simply that you cannot fail.

I cannot recommend this book enough! I am looking forward to putting the suggestions in place (and have already started with my 4-year-old with astounding results) but the way the book is written inspired me and gave me the confidence I felt I needed.

Dr Kevin Leman, the author of ” Have A New Kid By Friday”, has written several books regarding child rearing, relationships and has featured in 6 video series on marriage, parenting, blended families and single parenting. His book defines three key points to changing your child’s behavior and addresses it in a way where you feel you can’t fail.

Each section of this book is informative without making you feel like you are in a 12th grade history class and he fills the pages with personal stories and letters from those who have listened to him speak. An added bonus is the “Ask Dr Leman” section at the end of the book which focuses on certain behaviors and how you can work towards improving these behaviors.

I definitely give this book a 10 out of 10. It was informative, interesting and well written. Now I can’t wait for “Fun Day” to put his words of advice into practice!

You can find the book here at Amazon in book form, audio, multimedia cd and audible e-book style http://www.amazon.com/Have-New-Kid-Friday-Character/dp/0800719026.

I am going to try to do a book review each Friday, or every second Friday. It won’t always be a self-help or non fiction book, but I can’t work out how to make a bookshelf widget for my blog (any help would be greatly appreciated) so it will have to take the form of a weekly/fortnightly blog post instead.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

Kate xo

Catch Up

Its been one of those weeks so far, feeling flat, anxious and just not with it at all. Because of this my cleaning and keeping up with things has been put on the back burner, so today its going to be a catch up day.

Do you ever have weeks like this? Where everything seems to be too big a job, or where you are unsure of why you feel this way in the first place?

So here is my “catch up” day flight plan:

• Get Fletcher ready and off to school
• Have a nice hot shower and get dressed to shoes
• Put away washing up from last night (something I did manage to get done so pat on the back for me)
• Change sheets and remake beds
• Catch up on washing
• Work on main bedroom
• Vacuum and mop the house

I know it doesn’t seem much, but there is a fair bit to do and I am kicking myself for not doing it.

Oh well, off to clean now, hope everyone has a great day 🙂

Kate xo