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Monday, August 13, 2007

Monday morning...


Baby is down for her morning sleep,

Drinking cranberry and elderflower tea,

Still in my big red pj pants,

Feeling cruisy.



Dishes and laundry to do,

They can wait- no need to rush,

Taking time to just be,

Sitting in the morning sun.



Love it!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

How to have more money...

(Great tips from Kindred)

Regaining Sanity: Discovering the Balance between Time, Money…and your Life Part I
By Anna Jahns


Want More Money? Spend Less! Frugal families find ways to use less money by purchasing mindfully, asking, is this in sync with our family values? Voluntary simplicity's philosophy of conscientiously reducing, reusing and recycling is summed up as ‘Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, Do Without!'

  • Think cooperatively! Form food and babysitting co-ops.
  • Borrow and share rarely used items.
  • Take light-on-the-earth, light-on-the-pocket holidays — go camping, share equipment and costs with friends and family.
  • Buy secondhand wherever possible; especially clothing and furniture.
  • Browse through classified columns full of creative possibilities to repair, reuse, restore, refurbish!
  • Enjoy eating and entertaining at home, and friends' homes — including birthdays and holidays.
  • Consider eating lower on the food chain more often, involve children in growing your own veggie garden.
  • Car pool, bicycle ride, or use public transportation wherever possible.
  • Remember all the ways to economise with gas, water, electricity, telephone, to reduce household utilitites in everyday ways.
  • Use cotton cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers, and save $4,000 per child. 7
  • Buy in bulk, check out places like www.thebulkwarehouse.com.au
  • Shop less often, (once per week) and only from a pre-prepared list (and NEVER when hungry!).
  • Collect coupons, plan meals by the week with special offers, check for sales.
  • Compare at least 3 well-researched quotes for any large purchase.
  • Keep a handy list of better things to do than shopping or watching TV!
  • Make gift giving a creative family effort — birthdays and Christmases are so much more meaningful when loved ones receive handmade gifts.
  • When starting a family, consider taking on the financial burden of a mortgage once the children start school, not from the moment they are born! Stepping back to a single income for the first three years only takes a small percentage away from the average couple's entire working career — and yet, in these few years, the entire emotional foundation for their children's life is established, something that cannot be overvalued or made up for further down the track.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Great food philosophy...

In the persuit of gaining a buff mumma body I have unwittingly lost track of my own food philosophy- aka the way I want to live the rest of my life and the way I want to teach Molly to live. I have been living on less and less whole foods and more supplements and protein powders (which have their place when weight training but should not constitute the bigger part of your diet).

Beck has recently posted about getting back on track and focusing on eating real, unprocessed foods and she has reminded me of what I have been striving to achieve for the last few years- a natural, whole, nutritious diet free of unnecessary chemicals and additives. Thanks Beck!!

I just stumbled across this video (the bottom one with the lady) online about whole foods and it provides an excellent explanation of wholefoods and why 70 to 80% of our diets should be made up of them. I would highly recommend going to have a look if you're at all interested.

John has been sick over the last few days (but is better now) and molly has been very irritable with teething (they're now through praise the Lord!) and hasn't let me leave her side so I haven't been to the gym this week. I have been for a couple of brisk walks and have done one home weights session. I have Personal Training tomorrow night (the last of my free triple pack- Thanks Jadey!) so I just need to do a couple more cardio sessions and one more weights and my exercise will be sorted for the week. Cripes! It's Thursday- better get a wriggle on!

Food has been OK but I've certainly had better weeks. I feel a change in the air with this fresh look at wholefoods and the way I want to live so it's all good.

Molly had swimming today- she's adorable! Today I let go of her under the water for the first time and she kicked up to the surface like a little frog. She also had a try of floaties and an inflatable ring- she frog kicked all over the pool. The instructor said she is very pleased with Molly's progress. She has caught up to all the other babies who started at the beginning of the year and we've only been going for 5 weeks! Clever little sprocket!

That'll do from me today!

Ash
xox

Monday, August 06, 2007

Questions...

Thanks to everyone who asked me questions! Here are my belated responses.


How many children would you like to have???

2 or 3 I think. We'll have to wait until we have the 2nd one before we decide if we'll have a 3rd. It actually depends on lots of factors... money, space, whether I want to go back to work and use my hard earned degree etc etc.

What did you do for a living before your gorgeous baby girl came to be???

I just graduated from Social Work at RMIT and have been working in social and community services for the last 5 years.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now???

Hmmm.. the 5 year question- In my dreams we'd have our own home somewhere, John's band and recording studio would have taken off and I'd be spending my time looking after the kids, working with and supporting people in the community and persuing the things I love to do. I'd love to become a childbirth educator and doula as I felt such a strong connection with the whole process of childbirth. I also feel I've neglected my creative side in the last 4 years and would love to be painting, drawing and singing regularly.

The Rove question- Who would you turn gay for???

Umm... never thought about it- I think The Waifs are pretty unreal but I wouldn't go as far as saying I'd turn for them! *lol*

How do I motivate myself to turn a bad eating/exercise week into a good week???

Not a good week to ask me that question! Haha... Don't know what's gone wrong but the wheels have fallen off the wagon in a bad way recently. :( In the past I have been able to sit down and reevaluate my goals- write new goals down and tell people for accountability. But more than anything- when it comes down to it- to quote Nike (boo hiss) "just do it"- as motivation doesn't last but just plodding along and getting on with the task at hand really does work. It may be a 2 steps forward, one step back scenario biut at the end of the day you're still a step ahead arent you?!

I'd better go.
The screen is getting blurry as I'm so tired! I can barely type- I'rm surprrrised yyou can stiull understandd whats I'm talkkkkking about zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz