Gratitude Project - 10th November

I don't know what's going on. The first few days of doing this project, I was so happy and able to see the joy in everything.

But for the last five or six days I've been moody and grumpy, and really REALLY struggling to find things that I am grateful for.

It's not my hormones, I've a while yet before the PMS hit and I rage for two days!, and I know that I've been blaming it on end of year fatigue, but I'm not convinced of that either.

I've spoken to a number of other people in various aspects of my life who are all feeling the same as me... and I can't help but wonder if it's a general malaise we are all suffering from about the state of the world??

Things I am grateful for today:

1. A lunch away from my office and the gym, with me on my own. Heaven!

2. Sitting in the sun chatting on the phone with a friend who has just come back from an overseas adventure - and arranging lunch next week!

3. Mr M going out to get some cheap bubbly, and coming home with a bottle AND some dinner!

How are you feeling at the moment? Are you able to find gratitude every day, or is it a struggle for you too?

Gratitude Project 18 - 20 April 2015

What a lovely weekend we had!

Mr M was working on Saturday, so I had Mac and Warrie all to myself. After a morning of chores around the house, I took them out for the afternoon.

After running around a playground for nearly two hours, I decided it was type for this mamma to go home and have a cuppa.

As I was strapping Warrie into his seat, Mac piped up with "Mummy, can we go to IKEA and play in the ball pit?". Unable to think of a valid excuse not to go, we headed over to IKEA and proceeded to wait for 45-minutes to get them into the one-hour free child care. Then I headed upstairs for a cup of tea and cake; I fully intended on working on a project I have, but ended up spending the time reading a book! It was such bliss.

Yesterday, we had a film crew at our house for a short film that Mr M is working on. I took the boys to a playcentre to meet with a girlfriend and her boys. Five hours of non-stop running around later, I headed home to find the crew still there. With two more scenes to film, I was delighted to be able to watch Mr M in cameraman mode for the first time ever.

{Mr M, doing his thang!}

It was utterly fascinating to be behind the scenes and see how the magic of the silver screen is made.

Today was a wet and miserable day, which of course meant that all the crazy people were out on the road to work.
After a shocking commute, I got out of the car only to realise that the umbrella was not in the car as I had assumed... and to top it all off, I discovered that my shoes have a hole in them, so I ended up with wet feet!
Oh well, if that is the worst thing I have to endure today, then I am a very lucky girl!

So the things I have been grateful for this weekend:

1. Spending some awesome time with my baby boys at the playground. They must have gone down that slide 50 time each - easily! Warrie crashed in the car before we made it home, so I put him straight to bed and then had a wonderful one-on-one cuddle with Mac. Which we both enjoyed. Those boys are the light of my heart.

2. My physio. I have some weird nerve/muscle/skeletal pain going on in my shoulder and neck. Whilst it hurts being manipulated, the kazillion cracks she got out of my back at the end of the session made it all worth it!

3. Mr M. I don't tell him often enough how grateful I am for him. I just always assume that he knows, but I want him to know know. Ya know? So not only will I put it out here, so the whole world can see how thankful I am for my amazeballs husband, I'm going to tell him to his face. And then I am going to give him the biggest cuddle ever!!

How was your weekend? Do you have a hole in your shoes? What was one of the biggest highlights of your weekend?

Friday feels - 23 May

Today, my work bestie told me a very interesting story that a mutual colleague had shared over lunch - and it all stemmed from her asking "What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

And it made me think about the worst thing I've ever done.

Now, I'm your basic goodie two shoes... sure I've done some things I'm not proud of, I've experimented, and I had my go at rebelling against "The Man" (whoever that is supposed to be). But essentially, I was a good kid/young adult. My mum was so lucky (and she will attest to that!!)

So I had to think pretty hard to find the worst thing I've done. And please bear in mind that my definition of "worst" is likely to be different from yours, and different again from the little old lady across the road...

So here's my worst thing:
When I was 13, I was staying over at a friends house. We snuck out of the house late one night to go to a local watering hole. There we stayed until 2am drinking beer with a bunch of American sailors fresh off the boats. Then we went back to my friends house, where we both smugly thought we had gotten away with our daring adventure... until my Mum confronted me the next afternoon when I got home. Apparently a friend of my family had seen me out without my parents, and mentioned it to her. Needless to say, I was grounded for a very long time.

I laughed when I was telling the story. How outrageous was I as a 13-year old!? OMG, hahaha, what was I even thinking??

I then I thought about it again; with the mind of a 36-year old, with the mind of a mother.

I was THIRTEEN. Out drinking beer with a bunch of SAILORS, all of whom were much older than us. And all FRESH OFF THE BOAT.

What the hell was I doing!? It's very apparent that I wasn't thinking. Jeez, I'm probably lucky to even be alive.

We were living overseas at the time, so I'm certainly lucky that we weren't caught by the police - it could have meant my family being deported.

And looking back on my life, that's what makes it the worst thing I've ever done; I put my family's lifestyle, my dad's job, mine and my brothers schooling in jeopardy.

I would like to say that I knew it was wrong, that I was lead astray by a girl with a much stronger personality than mine, and I was desperate to be her BFF (she was well in with the cool crowd, I floated (comfortably for the most part) between the cool and uncool crowds)... And that's all probably true, but gosh it makes me feel sad for my 13-year old self, that I couldn't stand up to her and say "WTF!? Go out drinking? I'd much rather stay home and play with my barbies!". Who knows, she probably would have been just as happy to do that too!

Moving on. Here are my Friday Feels:

Hearing: Mr M introduced me to Chet Faker last weekend. How have I not heard of him before!? This cover of No Diggity (a song that was one of the many soundtracks to my life in the 90's), is freaking awesome.



Seeing: It was a week of TV lasts and firsts in our household... I watched the last episodes of the current seasons of The Walking Dead, and the Vikings - not sure how I'm going to manage until the next season of both! I also finally managed to watch the first episode of the new season of Offspring. It's good to have Nina back on my screen, even though I cried almost the whole way through. Just as well I stocked up on tissues!! :)

Tasting: I tried a DELICIOUS slow cooker recipe on Tuesday, it was chicken wrapped in bacon cooked with grated apple and bbq sauce. We ate it with couscous and veggies. I will find that recipe and share it with you all, because it was divine!

Smelling: I took Mac to an open day at our local primary school on Tuesday. We were sat in a kindergarten room to talk to the Principal, and the smell and sights just flooded my brain with memories I had forgotten I even had!! As much as I am dreading him start school, I'm sort of looking forward to it too... I'm excited for him. I loved school and I have a feeling Mac will too.

Touching: A couple of weekends ago, I bought some new woolen jumpers - the first winter wardrobe items I have bought in about 5 years! There is one jumper in particular, a grey one, that is so soft and warm and cozy... But we've been having the most amazing weather this last week that I haven't had a chance to wear it yet!! Not that I'm complaining - I'm LOVING this autumnal weather!

So there you have it, my Friday Feels.

Let me know what you've been feeling this week, or tell me (if it won't get you into any trouble!) what's the worst thing you've done?

Gratitude Project - 5th April

This morning Mr M took the boys out for an adventure in the car. I was still in bed, struggling to wake up after a long night with Warrie, and as he walked out the door Mr M casually threw over his shoulder "Hey you should have a bath whilst we're out..." And then he closed the door.

It took all of 20-seconds for the words to register and for me to have started the bath running.

Seriously how decadent is a long hot bath first thing on an autumn morning?

Not as decadent as a long hot bath on an autumn morning with a huge cup of tea, three crumpets and a favourite book, whilst listening to some great tunes!

{Thank you Mr M!}

I had 45-minutes of relaxed bliss before everyone came home and my day started properly, and fabulously!

Things I a thankful for today:

1. Spending most of the day with a friend who really needed it. And despite there being four boys in the house, we managed to have a good chat.

2. A sunny evening, so we were able to take the boys for a play/bike ride to burn off their excess energy!

3. A deliciously cool night; I love snuggling up to Mr M for warmth. He's like my personal hit water bottle! :)

What is your favourite book?