Message to 2Busy

This post is a special message to 2busy.  You evil woman!!!!  Suggesting that I add ice cream to that delicious grape soda, potentially ruining my weight loss dreams.  How could you?

Of course I jest.  It's a great idea. Unfortunately I have neither vanilla ice cream nor grape soda on hand, I do have 4 kids after all.  However, next shopping trip I will grab some and put them both together before the kids get home from school.  I'm sure it will be delicous.

I put Pepsi in with vanilla ice cream all the time.  We call them spiders here. Don't ask me why.  They don't look nor taste like a spider (although I'm only guessing on the taste having never eaten a spider before but I think I can be pretty safe in saying that they do not taste anything like each other).  I was under the impression that Americans called them floats but I could be talking about something totally different.  Fill me in guys!

Where Have You Been All My Life???

On my weekly trip to the speciality fridge at the end of the aisle to get my Cherry Coke, I made a new discovery.  Grape Soda!  I've only heard of Grape Soda about a million times in American tv shows and movies.  Being kind of obsessed with all things American I've always wondered what it tasted like.  And there it was sitting right in front of me.  So of course I bought it.  I took it home and poured it out for me and the kids.  I don't like grapes so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Can you say heaven?  Geez that stuff is so nice!  It was delicious. So now during my weekly bath and read, I am alternating between Cherry Coke and Grape Soda.

As you can see there is not much excitement happening in my life right now.  I am, after all, getting excited over a sugary drink.  I am slowly but surely, making changes in my life according to my style statement.  For starters, the kids and I have made it a weekly tradition to go to the beach every Sunday morning.  We have found a great spot.  It has nice fluffy white sand, the water is warm and clear, not too deep but deep enough, it doesn't have much seaweed and there aren't a lot of people.  Perfect!  Yesterday while we were down there, we saw a sea lion about 5 metres out.  It was just lying on its back and splashing around.  A local man told us that a house on the hill flies the Australian flag when the sealion is there. Apparently its a regular sight.  The locals call him Henry.  Typical that I didn't take my camera and the one on my phone sucks. 

We also saw the shark patrol helicopter fly over.  The kids go wild waving and the guys always wave back.  It's been great.  It's nice to relax and now I look forward to Sunday all week.

As for the other stuff, that is taking a little longer.  I haven't had the time to do anything on the house but fingers crossed I'll do at least one thing this week.  I'm also still at 1000+ blogs to read but I'm working on it.

At least I'm still going to the gym every day even though I'm not noticing any difference on the scales.  Probably too many Cherry Cokes and Grape Sodas :)

Last but not least, I'd like to say hello to my new follower Modern Mom.  It's amazing how getting a new follower and somebody you've never met calling you 'utterly charming' can boost your confidence and make you smile.  All my followers make me smile and I'd like to thank you all for that.  Love ya's!

My Style Statement

I'd like to say all is well in the Mum Plus 4 household.  It's not quite there yet but now I have confidence that it will be. 

I found my Style Statement book a couple of days ago.  I had purchased the book a couple of months ago after reading about it on a blog (sorry, I can't remember whose).  It sounded interesting.  I thought it was mainly about discovering your personal style when it comes to clothes and decorating and I felt I needed help in both areas.  My decorating style is very eclectic.  Not on purpose, I just buy things because I like them then I realise it doesn't go

             Photo Source: Amazon

with anything then I get rid of it or it clutters up the house looking stupid.  And the less said about my clothing style the better!

So I ordered the book from Amazon.  It takes about 3 weeks to get here and when it finally did arrive I was busy doing other things so I put it away without even opening it.  So a couple of days ago I found it.  Luckily I was cleaning at the time and was looking for an excuse not to be.  I sat down and starting answering all the questions.

It's not just about your home and clothes.  It's about your whole life and living the way your true self should be living.  Let me tell you it was an eye opener and a half!  Some of the questions I really got stuck on.  I never did answer the question about what I love about myself.  But I sat there for hours just writing and writing until I had answered every question from start to finish.  I don't think I've ever sat down and thought about what I really wanted.  Not what I thought I should want but what I really wanted.  And when I was done I realised why I've been so unhappy.  The life I really want to live and the life I've been living are exact opposites of each other.

I've spent so long (years and years) trying to be a good mum and trying to do what everyone else thought I should do, I've just let my whole life pass by in a blur.  Here are some things I discovered about myself that I didn't even know:

• I really really love spending time at the beach. Being overweight, the beach has been the last place I would want to go but I discovered its very important to me.
• I belong back in my hometown.  I don't belong here.  There is nothing I like here, I don't like the people around me, I don't like the weather and I just don't feel like I belong.
• I need to be surrounded by books and photos of my kids.  At the moment I am preparing the walls for painting so I haven't hung any photos up because I knew that I'd be taking them back down.  But they are really important to me.
• I don't have a personal sanctuary and its obviously something I really need to have.  There is nowhere I can go to be alone and being alone is something that I need to re-energise myself.
• I have to fix up the house.  I've been putting it off for so long due to time and money constraints but I have to make it a number one priority.
• One word that kept coming up was 'comfort'.  I need more comfortable things.  I need to be surrounded by luxurious textures, nice fragrances, art that makes me feel and music that makes me smile.
• I love and need wide open spaces but most of all I just need some peace!

You would think I would already know these things about myself but I didn't.  I never thought about it.  It was so relieving to finally work out what I want.  It was just a big sigh of relief.

Now I'm working to incorporate these things into my life.  This morning I woke up early, made some ham and cheese croissants and took the kids to the beach.  We ate breakfast on the sand, swam in the surf and played frisbee on the beach.  I can't remember the last time anything felt so natural.

kAh

And So It Continues....

Well the hell on Earth that is 2010 is continuing on.  I don't want to bitch and moan but seriously, I would have nothing else to say.  Today I lost $130, was beaten in the head until my neck sprained, had a panic attack and finally came to the realisation that there isn't a person alive on whom I can depend.  Yay me!

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong.  I try everyday to do the right thing, be a good person, live a clean life.  Either I was an absolute monster in a previous life and I am being punished for it now or my whole life's philosophy is completely wrong.  I am tempted to just give up and act like a total butthead to everyone I come across.  I see total bastards succeed everyday and here I am being nice and pushing crap uphill.

What is the worse that could happen if I do a total 180 on my personality and become the biggest a-hole in all the land?  Could I get beaten in the head?  Be totally unloved?  Lose money?  Too late!  So logic states that things couldn't possibly get worse if I'm a butthead.

What does everyone else think?  Stay the way I am and wait the rest of my life to be rewarded for my good deeds with the possibility that it may never happen or become a big a-hole and possibly become the most successful person you've ever met?






Photo source: searchviews.com

Overwhelmed!

I can't believe I haven't written anything for over a month!  And even then it was a pathetic little post much like this one is going to be. 

I have been totally run off my feet and I have so much to tell but not a lot of time which I'm sure you will all understand.  Wow that sentence kind of rambled didn't it?  I am still reading about what people did for Christmas, that is how far I am behind.  I am glad google reader only says 1000+ and doesn't actually tell me the real number because I think I'd die of shock.

I know all you Americans are going through winter at the moment and are suffering from the usual winter hassles (depending on where you live) but over here in Australia we are sweltering through heat wave after heat wave....2 in 2 months to be exact!  And if it's not a heatwave, its still hot!  The kids are back at school after 7 weeks at home, Christmas and New Year's are well and truly over (more details later) and they already have Easter Eggs in the stores.  And as usual I have way too much on my to do list.

I'm off now but I promise I'll be back (soon) and tell you about my New Year's Eve adventure.  Take care!