While On The Topic

Alischa, you take the best photos!

While we're on the topic of wanderlust and wandering the globe, look at these darling little notecards that Bespoke Press have created! Last to know of course, so hopefully they have not sold out. Oh how I love their creations. HERE.

PS. In other breaking news: Guitar came back. It was placed in the classroom during recess on the last day of last term. A teacher found it and took it up to the School Marshall, where it sat until my son accidentally discovered it while visiting the Marshall yesterday. "Here's my late note Sir and by the way, isn't that my long lost guitar?" There had been a bit of publicity about it's disappearance so I think 'the guilts' might have brought it back. Thank goodness. We were running out of  'borrowing options' and big one had even decided that he was going to change from 'classical guitar' lessons to 'rock guitar' lessons, and use his electric guitar for school lessons, seeing he no longer had an acoustic (a very versatile, cool dude guitar teacher we have)... it would have meant no more guitar ensemble though... so yay, it's back! Grateful.

The Gift of Friendship

Today I received in the mail a beautiful package from a very dear friend. Rox has become a wonderful friend I have made through this medium of blogging.

Isn't the gift just so beautiful? The letter was personal  and homely (just what I love) and the aroma from the candles was heavenly as I opened the parcel.  I have them near me know as I type this up, bringing to mind the treasured friendship that has come from Rox and others I now know.


When I started blogging over 2 years ago now, Rox was one of the first people who followed my blog. At that time I was very inexperienced in the ways of computers and all the accompanying gadgetry and not at all sure I had anything to offer in the blogging world.

Through blogging, social networks and email groups and later on Facebook I have come to know some wonderful ladies who I would consider kindred spirits. With a few I have exchanged the old fashioned type letters and gotten to know even better.

I still find it difficult to understand how some people still insist on the fact that due to it's electronic focus that blogging or FB or even social network groups cannot create REAL friendships.

I say this from personal experience....... I believe it can. That some of the dearest friends I have made in my life have been from initial phone friendships and now blogging.

Some of these friends I have met with and some I will never meet in person due to the vast oceans of water that are between us. But I still know that I can rely on these friends to pray for me, encourage me and to just be who they are.... as I am me.

In days gone past many friendships and romances were conducted by 'snail mail' and were true relationships. I just really can't see why the modern system we have can not be viewed as the same.

However, I as a relatively isolated person am VERY, VERY grateful for those wonderful women who have become near and dear to me. I treasure the trust and the gift of friendship that I have with them.

So I would just like to say to anyone else, don't be shy, open up and let others be gifted by who you are and what opportunities you may have to develop true friendships and kindred spirits, perhaps even with people you wouldn't have thought of.

I have never regretted it and I am sure you won't either.

 Blessings to you and your homes,

Crack Me Eggs...............

One of the most favourite activities our children did in preparation for Easter Day was to make Crack Me Eggs.
We really thought they would be fun and .......in reality they were.
These ceratinly will be a new tradition to our family's Easter preparations.

First off you need to crack some eggs open. Autumn did this part by cutting the top off the egg and we then used the three dozen eggs for omelets that night.

Then we dipped, really soaked the eggs a few at a time in hot water red food colouring. We tried to do other colours but we only had brown eggs to work with.

I am DETERMINED  to get some white eggs for Easter nest year. Each year I remember that brown eggs are so HARD to dye or decorate unless you cover them completely in acrylic paint.
I think white eggs must be a non Australian thing.

We then let them dry on skewers in  florists foam.

After drying we then put them  back in the egg cartons upside down ready for the little ones to fill

The children took turns, individually, (yes I am learning to be more clever in this) to fill the eggs with a selection of chocolate sultanas, bullets and Skittles.

Arwen  was helped  by Autumn, who was a major help and instigator in this activity.

Corbyn couldn't help but fill his mouth as well as the eggs. Well we all had a little nibble too!

Myffwyn's eggs were filled right to the brim. She really enjoyed putting lots of variety in hers.

We gave them each a row to do so there was no arguing.

Vellvin and Rogan did the last few and once again put heaps in.

We then glued on small cup cake paper pans that had been cut down on the open end, to seal the eggs.

After this we stuck on  paper that said "crack me" ready for Easter.

When we were ready to crack them I put them on  a tray, mainly  to gather up the remains.

 One of the eggs cracked open by a fist.

 Kynan having his turn. I love that he still wants to join in all the fun activities.

 Another egg with the goodies within.

They goodies were actually quite easy to get out of the shards of egg shells. They didn't get mixed up at all, which had been my only concern.

Needless to say the children ALL had a great time smashing the eggs into smithereens.

Like I said the children are very keen to add this to our traditions for future use, so here we start a new family tradition.

Blessings to you and your homes,

How to Organize Magazines and Newspapers

Welcome to Week 10 of our Organize your Life series!

If you are just joining in, please link up your blog here so we can all help motivate each other!

I am reading and using the book called, Organize Now! by Jennifer Ford Berry, to help me organize my life! :)

Are you a magazine subscription junkie?

Can you remember the last time you actually had the time to read one of the many magazines or newspapers that you’ve bought?

Do you have several years of the same catalogs piled high?

This week’s challenge is to…

 

Organize your Magazines and Newspapers!

  

This is pretty easy for me because I only subscribe to three magazines (and that’s only because I got a great deal on them) and we don’t get any newspapers.

I get Better Homes and Gardens which is my favorite!

I also like Traditional Home just because I like looking at all the pictures, hehe!

 

Lastly, I get House Beautiful.

 

I would LOVE to get more but I don’t even have the time to really read the ones I have now.

After I am done reading them,  I give away, sell at my garage sale or recycle. 

Currently, this is my collection…small, huh?  I just read blogs now, lol!

 

I saved a couple that I still need to read and a couple other good ones that I like to look at once in a while.

 

I keep them in my drawer to look at before bed.

Or in my kitchen mail holder for easy access downstairs.

TIPS TO STAY ORGANIZED

Every month

Recycle anything that you don’t want to read!

Cut out any articles that you want and put them in a plastic protector in your magazine binder.

Every 3-6 months

Go through magazines and binders and organize.

Every year

Cancel subscriptions that you don’t want anymore.

 

Next week is organizing your email, so get ready to link up! :)

Today,  link up your Magazine and Newspaper Organization Post!!!

Thanks for following along.

Happy Organizing!!! :)

Wanderlust

Image Courtesy Little Brown Pen

wan·der·lust 

 noun
a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

Yep, my recent trip to Paris has me' yearning' so I am 'visiting' anything Paris related whenever I have a moment to myself... to feed my wanderlust. 

The lovely Mel, from the www.theorganicmamas.com sent me over to 'Little Brown Pen', to help me cope.


Oh my!....Nichole's delicious photos of Paris just stop my heart.  You can buy them HERE. Look at the blue set!... deep breaths.... (feeds my blue addiction, as well as my Paris addiction)... I just love the yellow set too and the pink one. Be still heart.

Aren't they just gorgeous!


I love how Nichole describes how she comes across her 'finds':
"We Stroll 
The French have a word for what we do: Flâner. It means to stroll with no destination in mind, simply for the pleasure of it. Our work is a record of the serendipitous discoveries we find by getting lost".

That's what I did for 2 glorious weeks...no... I skipped.

Tell me which set should I get?.... the blue or the yellow? Have narrowed it down.

To Your Vitality The Three Colors You Should Be Eating More Of

With spring here and summer coming, I though you would enjoy this post! :)

 

The Three Colors You Should Be Eating More Of

Remember ROYGBIV? I do. The mnemonic is how I learned the seven colors of a rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Nowadays I use the acronym to represent the colors of food I should be eating.

Because nature highlights the beneficial nutrients in fruits and vegetables by giving them bright colors, eating by color is an easy way to load up on nature’s superfoods. Each color represents phytochemicals—compounds that benefit our health in different ways—which is why you should eat a colorful variety of vegetables. For example, anthocyanins and proanthocyanins—two antioxidants associated with keeping the heart healthy and the brain functioning optimally—make foods like blueberries, eggplant and cranberries blue, purple and deep red.

The USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, however, suggest paying particular attention to three colors: dark green, red and orange.

Here’s how much of each color you should aim to eat every week:

Red and orange vegetables: 5 1/2 to 6 cups each week for most adults
What counts as a “cup”? 1 large red bell pepper, 8 large strawberries, 12 baby carrots or 2 medium carrots, a sweet potato or a medium pink grapefruit.
Why they’re important: Red foods—such as tomatoes and red peppers—contain lycopene, a phytochemical that may help protect against prostate and breast cancers. Alpha and beta carotene make foods like carrots and sweet potatoes so brilliantly orange. The body converts these compounds into the active form of vitamin A, which helps keep your eyes, bones and immune system healthy. These phytochemicals also operate as antioxidants, sweeping up disease-promoting free radicals.

Dark green vegetables: 1 1/2 to 2 cups weekly

What counts as a “cup”? A cup of cooked greens, 2 cups raw greens or 10 broccoli florets.

Why they’re important: Dark, leafy greens (spinach, chard and arugula) are good sources of lutein and zeaxanthin, phytochemicals that accumulate in the eyes and help prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in older people. They’re also rich in beta carotene. Dark green cruciferous vegetables, such as kale and broccoli, provide compounds called indoles and isothiocyanates, which may help prevent cancer by amping up the production of enzymes that clear toxins from the body.

How many colors did you eat in your last meal?

By Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.

Brierley's interest in nutrition and food come together in her position as nutrition editor at EatingWell. Brierley holds a master's degree in Nutrition Communication from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. A Registered Dietitian, she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Vermont.

Thanks Brierley for that info!

If you are not getting everything you need, I love Shaklee CarotoMax to make sure I am getting enough vitamins!!! :)

---

Have a great day! :)

Easter Celebrations 2011

Well Easter Day has come and gone and I still haven't posted any of our Holy Week or Easter posts.
So today I will start back tracking our way from Easter Day to the days of Holy week.

Obviously on Easter Day we attended Mass and had our traditional Easter family photo. I am so glad our camera has a timer that we can use so we can get everyone together.

Our Resurrection cookies have come out of the tomb.

Checking out the contents of the Home made Baskets  I put home made things into each year. I try to do differing items but still retain some of the same themes. Butterflies are always into he basket as a representation of the new life from the caterpillars that are put in on Holy Thursday (post on this later)

Just waiting for everyone before getting all the chocolate from the Easter Bags

Trading is a tradition where we can swap of those less desirable, according to taste, chocolate with others.

A close up into the Easter bags. Cadbury is our chocolate of choice and the children and me too would rather have less if it is Cadbury rather than more of another brand.

Doesn't that look like a huge Bunny for a little girl??

One of traditions we have as a family, after we come home from Mass and raid the Easter bags is to play outside together. Red Rover Crossover is a current favourite game with our  younger children and they love the fact that Stephen plays with them.

Arwen loves playing especially and does a funny little stance as she gets ready to chase the others.

Then of course we had the traditional sword fighting between each other. I wasn't going to play this year as we have some very competitive sword fighters, and I didn't want to risk an injury with the little baby.
Stephen of course had to get a trusty stead a bike and have jousting fights. Saxon was the only other jouster though confident enough to take on his father.

As Dad isn't home to sword fight all the time there was a general gang up on Dad to defeat him.

Stephen and Vellvin fighting ....

Eden is a most competent and dangerous sword wielder and can be  a little intimidating.

Kynan uses two swords to fight but tries to temper his blow so as not to hurt people.

Corbyn for all his size and age is a very deadly opponent and shows no mercy.

The double sword technique is used by Eden too.

If it seems like there is a good fight going on some where else the children will congregate to where it is happening,  hence a sword fight between two can be a general fend for your self

Rogan is probably our most timid sword fighter and rarely engages others.

Two very dangerous opponents are Autumn and Saxon...often fighting till one gets hurt.

Our little ones were content to dig holes under the the wattle trees, playing there own little games

It is so sweet to see our little ones playing outside making up their own little games.

After a while it is time to get ready for our Easter dinner. For some reason our Easter dinner tens to be fairly plain
Roast lamb with rosemary and basil
Mashed Potato
Baked Sweet potato
Broccoli and peas

This year we didn't even make our Lamb Cake, but seriously we had so much chocolate that it wasn't necessary, except for the symbolism, which as I write is quite significant.

We actually didn't do our Egg Hunt until Monday.
I love these  group photos of our children. We are all ready for the Easter Egg hunt.
I put out 140 small eggs out for the children to find.

 Trampling all over the place to find the eggs.

 I love how our little ones are often helped by the other children.

After all the excitement of the Easter chocolate Kynan and Braedon then bought everyone a huge Red Tulip Elegant Rabbit and a box of 15 chocolate eggs. A huge expense by the boys....Thank you.

Thank you to my dear brothers...it is another huge chocolate spurge.

Just for your information I have hidden away the small  children's chocolate to be 'dolled' out over quite a few days.

Blessings to you and your homes,