April 2017Life Love and Hiccups: April 2017
Life Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and Hiccups

Saturday 22 April 2017

Less and More

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I remember reading this Less and More post over at the gorgeous With Grace & Eve a couple of weeks back, and it has kind of stuck with me.

At the time I recall thinking - HELL YES, I'm gonna do that right now... but then I must have gotten distracted by squirrels or something because it just hasn't happened... yet.

But the fact that it kept popping into my head made me promise myself that as soon as I should find myself with a spare 15 minutes or so, I would make myself a cuppa and sit down and write my own less and more list.

So, ahhh, this is kinda happening now ok?!

Less and More -  two very simple words that if we somehow manage to apply them to the things we do in our everyday life - BOOM what a difference we could make.

Instead of just dreaming about something we want to do or achieve, we can actually snatch it by the big old hairy toes, give it a yank and say "COME 'ERE BIG FELLA!"

Ummm

That sounded all kinds of wrong huh?

*cough cough* It wasn't really the visual I was meaning to conjure up.

Let's try again.

So the idea is that you choose some things you wish to do less of or give less effort to, and replace them with things you want more of.

Simple Pimple right?

OK, Let's do this.

Less routine, more spontaneity

Less gin, more mineral water... SNORE****

Less manic, more mindful

Less stuff, more memories

Less choice, more simplicity

Less rushing, more sitting

Less noise, more silence

Less screens and technology, more books

Less work at night, more romance

Less worry about stuff I can't control, more being thankful for what I can

Less overthinking, more doing

Just thinking about those changes makes me feel calmer. 

Thanks Elisa... I needed to do that.

Ok, your turn. Want to have a go?

It's ok, I will sit here and practice my silence wait whilst you make yourself a cuppa and write your list. 

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Oh The Irony...

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So we are head first into week two of the school holidays here and whilst I'd love to be able to tell you that my absence from this blog was because we've been busy working on our tans in Bali... but that would be a big fat lie.

A rather delicious sounding lie at that.

But alas, nup... I've just been doing the school holiday juggle like squillions of other parents around the world do at the end of every term. I've been trying to keep up a seamless appearance on the work front, whilst bribing older siblings to babysit and gratefully accepting generous friend's offers of 'playdates' to occupy the kids whilst I catch up on work... all the while battling the relentless guilt.

Oh screw me - THE GUILT!

I haven't spent enough time with the kids, I'm not on top of the washing, I haven't yet shopped for Winter Uniforms and now I have practically Buckley's chance of get a midget size school blazer made in time for first day back... insert at least 136 other valid reasons to feel guilty and...

GAH!!!!

That good old useless good for nothin guilt - Rack off!

Pfft!

Easter was pretty quiet around these parts. We lunched with family on Good Friday, caught up for dinner with friends on Saturday night and Sunday we ate our way through a couple of kilos of chicken that we had prepared for another family get together we were supposed to be hosting that was called off at the eleventh hour when ALL of our family couldn't make it after all thanks to a bucket full of reasons including and not limited to; head colds, work travel, and an old dog having dizzy spells.

No, I mean like a proper furry dog having dizzy spells (my parent's dog), I wasn't rudely referring to any human members of our family.

Despite the party that no one came to (sorry, I have to milk it at least a LITTLE) we ended up having an awesome Easter Sunday.

It was just the hubby, the kids and I and we cooked lots of food, sat around the fire, played guitars, sang far too loud and gorged ourselves stupid on wickedly rich chocolate / marshmallow / hot cross bun shmores (recipe from here).

It was pretty darn perfect and although I don't have a single damn photo to show for it - I couldn't be happier about that.

I didn't feel like taking any photos because Ive been going through a bit of a 'private' phase lately.

AHEM

Yes, it's OK, I'll wait whilst you snort wine out of your nostrils at the irony of a 'private blogger'.

But it's true though, I've just not felt like being 'out there' quite as much as I normally would.

I can't help but feel like the world has been crazy as batshit lately what with the threat of war, all the atrocities against children and families and innocent people that have taken place, and whole families wiped out under tragic circumstances. That has to have an effect on us all right?

I mean, how can it not affect you when you see it or hear about it on the news and through others?

It makes me feel like that photo I took of us in the city or at the beach or anything I was going to write about nice new linen sheets, a day in the city, a new recipe for lemon caper chicken I've recently discovered and ... well pretty much anything... sound kinda petty really.

Do you know what I mean?

And so I just say nothing for a little while and that's what I mean by 'feeling private'.

I just quietly press pause on the online world, edge back from the crowds, gather my tribe close and we bunker down under our rock and keep to ourselves for a little while.

It doesn't fix anything in the world.

It doesn't change anything or prevent any of the bad stuff from happening or any of it from affecting us, but sometimes it just feels like what I need for a little while.

Does that make sense?

Do you ever feel like 'switching off' for a while and keeping to yourself?

Anyways, how was your Easter? Have you had some time off? Are you mid juggle too?




Monday 3 April 2017

Who Gave Him Permission To Go And Grow Up On Us?

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The days seem to be getting shorter and the months passing by quicker lately.

I remember my grandmother once saying that to me and at the time I recall looking at softy wrinkly face and wondering when exactly it was that she lost her marbles. 

How can time ever go fast or slow? Isn't time just time?

I think that's because when you are a kid, time seems to stretch on endlessly.

A birthday party or a sleepover that you are looking forward to in a week or two seems to take a lifetime to come around.

School Holidays last foreeeeeeever but the time in between lasts even longer.

Now, any holidays are over as quick as a fart.

Why is that?

Why does time move so much faster the older that we get?

Is it because we try to fill every hour of the day with something from our never-ending to-do-lists and because often as adults we are so focused on timelines and deadlines that we have lost the ability to to do nothing for a while and to ever allow ourselves to get… you know, like bored?

I sat on the couch the other night having a bit of a snuggle with my nearly 16 year old boy. 

I’m so grateful he is still wants to sit and snuggle (OK... lean on me) for a chat and allow me to ask him the million and one questions about all the things that as a mother I both want and need to know about what is going on in his teenage world.

“Do you still love your Mummy?” I asked him, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it anyway.

He responded with a smile and then kissed my forehead.

WTF?????

My BABY kissed MY forehead.

My 6 foot tall size 12 hoofer with hairy bits man child kissed MY freaking forehead.

I swear only last week I was wiping his bum and chopping up his eggy soldiers into bit size pieces…. SO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED???

Who gave him permission to go and get all grown up and man like on us?

Time is what happened. Age put a good old boot in there too.

Next thing you know he’ll be buying MY adult diapers, running me to bingo and booking me in for denture fittings whilst I sit there and tell him about how the years are going by faster and all the while he will be staring at my soft wrinkly face and wondering who the feck stole MY marbles.

Kind of dramatic, but not really right?

Ahhhhh slow down!!!

I'm so not ready to be all old and stuff yet.

Have you ever driven somewhere and then suddenly realised you cant actually recall the driving part of getting there... 
you're just kind of there?!

Do you ever looked at your kids and felt the same way? Like how did you get from being so little to.... THIS???