Caterpillar to Butterfly

With hubby having to shut down his business last year our finances are tight, really tight, tighter than tight.
Every dollar is allocated and every cent has somewhere important to be.
There is no room for new shoes or books, for hair cuts or new make up.
No money to go to a movie or to order in pizza.
Hell, a coffee in a cafe would take up any spare change that we see, just one coffee.
It could quickly lead to us feeling like we are about to be hit by a truck. But we are choosing a different view. We have taken this path so that we can come out in a much better place.
A more secure place, with a brighter future.
So this year, the year 2012 is our cocoon year.
The year that we use all of our resources for only the most necessary things. We wrap ourselves up in the glow of our beautiful little family and we rest and we wait. In time we will emerge again and we will be strong and energetic.
Caterpillars no longer, but butterflies.

I think I have worked it out!

I am not a very organised person, if you have been reading this blog you already know that.
This can be a real pain sometimes and it seems I am forever NOT getting things done. My house is always a wreck and important events always seem to creep up on me or sometimes pass me by. I think however that I have finally worked out the real issue. I am looking for THINGS to make me organised, an amazing personal planner, a beautiful calendar, a pretty pen to use to record things, better software to manage my finances,a shopping list pad, a book that tells me how to finally manage it all, something, anything that will suddenly transform me into a fabulously organised and tidy little domestic soul. And here is the problem, I have all these things...but I don't use them...they make me feel bad for not using them, the guilt is unbearable, I am just not organised enough to get around to using these things!
So the solution I would think is to STOP thinking about it all and to start actually doing it. I am very good at using my time to not do the things that need to be done, so now I have to become very good at using my time to get these thinks done so that I have time to do the other things that I want to do! It is all rather complicated but terribly simple all at once. The sooner I get it all happening the better, mostly because my oldest child starts school next year and I need to be on the ball and a baby due in April whom is most certainly not going to help with the staying on top of "stuff" issue! Nothing like a little panic to get you motivated. So I am off to hang out the washing, at 9pm, in the dark and cold.....

Embracing thrift

I am strongly embracing thrift, a bear hug type of embrace. The fist thing to go in this house will be take away (or take out) food. The problem being I love having food delivered to my door and I enjoy the night off cooking even more so I have a few ideas. The first one is a website I came across in a magazine today, you need to sign up as a member but then you can opt to receive "Dish of the Day" emails that arrive in your inbox every day saving you the effort of deciding on what's for dinner. Check it out here http://www.notakeout.com/ the only problem I have with this site is that, being American, the measurements need to be recalculated for us Aussie folk, but a little use of the brain matter (and an online conversion calculator) never hurt anyone! My second friend on my thrift embracing adventure can be found  here. This a collection of freezer friendly dishes and I will be actioning the filling up of my freezer for the nights that I can not be bothered cooking!
So, any one with me??? Any thrift embracing family meal suggestions??

Christmas and New Year stress

Another Christmas season had passed us by and no doubt many of you are breathing a sigh of relief (me included). The season can be a stressful time, the added financial pressure of gifts, the pressure of cooking for an army of relatives, the social circuit that goes nuts in the holiday season, not to mention the stress of actually shopping with the hoards of other stressed out Christmas shoppers. But does it have to be this way? Aren't we all meant to be happy and loving and kind toward our fellow man?? Perhaps someone needs to remind the drivers of the closest ten cars to the last parking space in all of down town shopping-ville! Really, we bring it upon ourselves. We currently have 357 sleeps to prepare (or so I am told by a gleeful Christmas site) and it's not like the date changes every year or anything! So this year I plan on buying gifts through out the whole year and mostly online to avoid the shopping stress and to spread out the extra payments. I won't be doing the cooking this year as it will be someone else's turn, so that's an easy stress break. I'll plan to catch up with friends and extended family that we won't see on the day, in the early days of December for something casual, maybe a picnic in the park or a lazy Sunday brunch. I will not be shopping in the days leading up to Christmas day, it is just too hectic and the parking a nightmare. I would love to hear your ideas on dealing with the stress of the day and how you plan to do things differently this year?

Decisions

As a mother every second thought that runs through my brain seems to be something regarding my children or the future of my family. While this is really as it should be I find myself second guessing my decisions almost constantly since children came into the picture. Every decision I make is checked, rechecked and checked again. The decision is changed, changed back, thought about and thought about some more. The result of all this is often that nothing gets done. I am so worried that my decision my not be the best thing for my family that I simply do nothing. Now I find myself in a predicament. My family is now at a stage where my ability to earn an income needs to be utilised.
And so the decisions start, do I go into business?
Do I get a job?
Do the kids go into care or do my husband and I work things in such a way that one of us is always home with them while the other is at work?
And what is it that I actually want to do?
Sigh
Much thinking to do

A bright shiny New Year

The beginning of a new year is almost always full of high hopes and dreams, full of expectation and enthusiasm. And then you wake up with a hang over!

Maybe a massive party the night before a new start is not the best option. Thankfully this year I had a lovely quiet night with my husband, who cooked dinner and served champagne. Yet on the second day of the year I already feel let down by my high expectations, as if the tick of the clock past midnight and changing of the calendar date would mean that everything would be different and wonderful. Instead I am faced with the reality of actually having to put in some effort, I mean really, the cheek of it!

So it is now that I embark on a journey in which I am both driver and navigator, and for which I have no map or compass or sense of direction. I wish to overhaul my "life", to find a sense of calm within my daily activity, to embrace my role as mother and wife and women of the world more fully and with more passion and joy.
But what does that really mean?
What do I need to do to achieve my goals?
Do I need to buy a dishwasher to free up time?
Do I need to spend my day playing with my kids and my nights being with my husband?
Do I need a haircut, new clothes, more shoes and matching handbags?
Or is it really more than all that?

I am very much looking forward to a year in which I get to explore a new side of me and a new side to family life. To get to know new friends better and to learn new things about old friends. To embrace my family and enjoy them for who they are and not to get annoyed by what they say or do as they are entitled to their opinions and I am equally entitled to ignore them! I am also intending to stop that little niggling judgment that we as humans and especially as women go through life inflicting on others. You know the ones I mean, turning up your nose at the way others dress or eat or walk or any number of other silly little things that are really none of our business and which really eat away at our own self worth more that anything else.

 
So what happens next? Well stay tuned, I'll let you know