Getting back to regular posts.....

(cannot believe this photo is from last year) Yes it has been a long time. Life kind of got in the way to be honest. Our lives completely changed when we moved to rural Australia. There has been lots of adjustments, tears, joy, laughter, fun and some hard times. So I really wanted to keep a record for my girls to document this journey of living in the outback, ministry, homeschooling, music, crafting & life. Its a journey that is for sure!! (I'm sure working out this blogger thing again will be a challenge). I also thought it would be a good idea to keep this up to date as we head off on another big adventure.....travelling around the top end of Australia in a caravan.....yes you heard it from me.....a caravan. What an experience and time we will have. So lets get to it. Love Out. M xxx

Following Two Beauties

on the heels of my lovely Sis (in law) & gorgeous Cousin Brit I thought this might kickstart me into blogging??!
(well I have got to try something right???)

10 Things I have learnt this week -

1. camping is not my favourite, but the family time with no technology & simplicity is
2. I like a hot shower (seriously I need to be clean)
3. I love a clean house but hate doing it myself (anybody??)
4. I really really miss my Sis (in law) & my cutest nieces & nephews more than I thought I would those relationships are worth it, even if I do screw up the times & am a little slack & we live 20000km away.
5. You find out who your REAL friends are once you move away from somewhere.......just saying.....
6. I love going to church/music & I miss it if I don't go, my spirit needs it.
7. I seriously love my hubby even after all these years (& we agree getting married young was a good thing)
8. Material things really aren't important (especially when you lose your D&G sunglasses)
9. Your Mum and Dad will always be really important people in your life
10. I don't particuarly like exercise but I need it, it keeps my head straight

Hopefully not so long between posts.....

Me xxx

WIP (Works in Progress) Wednesday

I don't have anything to share today for WIP as we are in the middle of moving. Yep my favourite. Again.
Will be back with these though as I am hoping with lots of new room, I will have the time & space to start creating again.
Happy Wednesday.

Friday Favourites...

So another one of Sheree's ideas, love it. Here are our family favourites from this week -

 What can I say about our sunsets out here.........Stunning.........

 Yep on our little 4WD jaunt, we saw some camels. The girls wanted to stop & pat them, but I was on a mission & told them that they smell & spit at you!! Ha that changed their minds.

 They were finding some beautiful shiny rocks......

Clean Pantry me preparing for the term having everything organised. Ant said it was a bit "sleeping with the enemy" but my anal self was very very happy!!! The kitchens are not big up here, so I have to make the most of it.

 New lalaloopsies bought with pocket money!!

 Lots of homemade cooking, a new recipe I made for lunch one day - might share it. Yummy.

 We have dealt with a bit of sickness here in the last week, including "pink eye" as my yankee counterparts call it. Not a favourite of mine let me tell you, so chilling out was a main part of the week for the chickies.

 Fun time is nearly over here in Australia with school holidays finishing, so I have been crazily easily preparing for the year. In Australia we have to give a whole year to the education department. I am totally new to all this but am so thankful for a new friend I made who has been amazingly helpful & giving of her time. I am actually excited about this years work.

So it is a little photo heavy, but that's been a snapshot of our week here. Craft etc has been put aside until probably a couple of weeks into school as we settle into the new curriculum, charts etc. It is going to be a busy year, but I am excited for all that is in store!!

WIP (Works in Progress) Wednesday

So my girlfriend Sheree suggested I go along with her on a couple of subjects (you know to keep my butt motivated to blog & get things done) gotta love girlfriends like her!!! So here are some projects I am & will be working on once I have my homeschooling stuff sorted & out of the way!!!

Quilts - Some ongoing projects & probably more to add (3 quilts & 2 tablerunners)

Project Life - I am not doing this in the traditional sense at the moment. I decided after seeing some that the girls first years of their life really needed doing. (I had done some albums up with photos & they looked at them so much they were falling apart). It was totally doing my head in with the thought of never catching up on their photos scrapping. Big job I tell ya. I am wired that way, it gets to me not having things completed. It has been a real mind shift to change to simple scrapping, tell the story & not worry too much about design/product. Not only is it using up my old scrapping stuff, the reaction of Ant when he saw my first couple of pages made it sooo worth it. He was more excited about those than my other scrapping, so I am thinking it is an awesome thing. Looking at the photos brings so many good memories too. I am planning to do this to catch up, our USA trips (was doing a photobook but this was time consuming & annoying), Moreton & Fraser Island trips. The best thing is I really feel I can keep it up, it won't be a UFP. Yay.

(these pages are unfinished but you get the idea)

Why don't you share what WIP you have happening at the moment, we would love to see. Back friday with some Friday Family Favourites (another Sheree idea yeehah).

If you think I am lost.....

I am ........on PINTEREST!!!! OMG wasting valuable time dreaming, searching.......I'll be back soon....


I PROMISE!!!!!!

A Big Shout Out to Miss Emily Wind....

 Did you notice my new blog design, well Emily Wind offered to do something for me and I couldn't be happier. She designed all of it!!! Amazing I tell you amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. We did this all over email!! Makes me want to blog more!!! I have not yet met Emily or her lovely Mum Janelle IRL, but I have never met two nicer ladies. Between twitter, blogging & facebook, I have formed a lovely friendship with her & Emily chatting about dollies among other stuff & both of them pointed me to some beautiful dolly bargains!! They have both been so generous with their advice & time. Emily is definately one of the most talented young ladies I have seen. She runs a great club for blythes, has the cutest style & is so creative. Please go check out all her stuff on her blog here. Thankyou Emily I really really appreciate what you did & I think you have an amazingly bright future ahead of you!!!!

2012 Art Journal Class

Yep that is right I signed up for an art journal class. I am not arty by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt like I needed a new challenge this year, to get me out of my comfort zone (like I haven't had enough of that in the last year) & maybe open up myself to something new. Something that will stretch me creatively. Make a mess, open my heart & also might get my girlies involved for school. Hey Art is part of school right??. So excited. I am determined this year to be very organised & scheduled, as we all seem to work better that way. Of course I will have some flexibility, we will try to be scheduled with some fun thrown in.

Why don't you go and have a look, maybe even sign up here .

Me Out xxx

Etzcetera Magazine - Issue 4

My lovely girlfriend Sheree put me onto this mag a few months ago when it came out. She is also on the design team with Kim Archer Workshops@home. It is an amazing magazine full of awesome articles, beautiful pics & great projects. It is also such a reasonable price at only $4.50. I have a specific project, a table runner, I want to get done out of it this year. It has step by step instructions by the lovely Janelle & also other crafty, clever girls.

Go here to subscribe or get previous issues. You will love it.

Love Me xxx

On Being Crafty......

 So I was reading this post today from Katie.......it spoke to me in so many ways......

I was answering some questions for an interview recently, and one of the questions was about how I got started making plush things.  As I was thinking it over, I remembered back to when I didn't do any sewing.  I didn't grow up sewing or being "crafty", I was actually the kind of person to tell you that I was the complete opposite.  Then I thought about it more, and I realized that this could be an encouragement for someone.

Right after I graduated high school, I had no real idea of what I wanted to do or be.  I often complained to Johnny that I wasn't good at anything and I didn't have any talents.  Though he tried to reassure me countless times, I still felt uncreative and lost.  I just assumed that people who were good at things just "got" them and I hadn't really "gotten" anything.  If only someone had said, "Sweetie, you have to explore.  Don't be afraid to TRY."  So, I'm here to say that to you.  Don't be afraid to explore things.  Don't be afraid to fail.  Don't be afraid to TRY. 

It's alright if you don't know who you are or what you are interested in.  It's okay to be scared of new things and even feel incredibly intimidated.  It's fine not to have it all figured out.  In a lot of ways I feel like I'm still sorting through that.

One thing that I never admitted to myself was that being good at something is a bit of talent, but it is also a LOT of hard work.  There are many failures along the way, but you learn so much from them and grow all the more.  I'm not saying that I have everything totally figured out, but I do know that there was a point when I was afraid of trying because I was afraid of failing.  When I finally decided to believe in myself, it opened me up to so much.  Now I feel pretty satisfied doing something that I'm really proud of.

If you are someone who knows what they want and is driven to make it happen, I completely admire you.  Many others may also admire you.  A little encouragement goes a long way... maybe you could pass a little on as well.  :)  xoxo Katie

She just put it in a way I could never have. I remember doing home ec in school & I loved it, but I had a horrible reacher & so I gave up & only picked up crafty stuff in my 30s. The same with keyboard, I have sung & loved music since I was little but my teacher was awful. All those years of wasted experience, joy & now hard work to get to a place I could have been. But I will try. Think about those things when you speak to something......you can encourage a dream or you can kill it. Yes we have a choice to whether it affects us but for an impressionable 15 year old what you say MATTERS especially when you have a level of authority in their life. I will be remembering this as I go through the journey of raising 3 strong, gorgeous girls. No I won't encourage them to be a rockstar, or the best of everything, but I will encourage them even when they fail, brush them off, point them towards Jesus & pray that they will find their way while I am finding mine!!!!


Love Me xxx

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A Short Course in Communication....

Instead of trying to justify yourself

        Hold your tongue

Instead of lashing out

Choose words that bring restoration

Instead of losing your temper

Practice self control

Instead of inflaming a situation

speak kind words that soothe & heal

Instead of holding a grudge

Forgive those who wrong you

Instead of reacting 

ignore an offence and refuse to let it control you

Instead of jumping in

think before you open your mouth.

Hard to live up to, but something I am definately going to try this year!!!

Love Me xxx

Life Kinda Gets in the Way

Yep it happened again. A month before I blogged. I am a bit hopeless I am afraid. I guess I stop myself as I think our life is boring, there is nothing to share, nothing to tell, who would want to read it & then I think of myself & how I just love even seeing a photo on my sis's blog. It is not meant to be a pressure thing, another way to try make myself feel like I am contributing, it is a journal of life.

So we were thinking we would have a quiet christmas as we aren't around anybody up here. We have been very blessed to have found a few people who like inviting us places. Ha. We had a lovely Christmas Ant ended up being home (he was supposed to work) so we went to the lunch held at church for all the "orphans" people who don't have family etc. Well it was HUGE. There was so much food & they had everything set up for a great time. Of course silly me didn't take photos, I was too busy having fun & eating. That night the next door neighbours invited us over for dinner & a swim (our pool has been green grrrr) and a karaoke jam. Hee hee very funny indeed. I will have to get some photos from that night. Boxing day saw us going out to the Dam & tubing & quad bike riding. Although it was hot we had a great time for a couple of hours & then took a day to recover. LOL.

In a nutshell it was different. I guess it would always be that way. We don't have any family close by, the closest big city is 10 hrs drive (it isn't until you start driving that you realise how isolated we are) and there has been so many changes in our lives this year. Not saying it is a negative thing just different.
Change has become a part of our existence!!! Not sure I love it, but all the intelligent people seem to say that change is good & change helps you grow. Well I am growing a lot. ha

This New Year I would like to be more real, sometimes that might be ugly. It doesn't mean that I am not happy where we are, or the season that I am in, just REAL. Hope that is ok. We are loving the simplicity of the life up here, the genuiness of the people, "the don't go to the doctor unless you are bleeding to death" scenarios, the indigenous people & the struggles they face on a daily basis, the dynamics of a small town (people having to come to a small pond to be big fish & have opinions to match), the lack of services (the library got rained out & we won't have one for 6 months) that would never happen in the city, the fact that it takes us 2 mins to get anywhere that doesn't happen in the city LOL. The fact that I was worried we wouldn't be able to have decent coffee somewhere??!! I mean the sacrilege....really??? The fact that we weren't really prepared (not really) with how full on Ant's job would be. All in all there has been lots of changes but we are coping well. The girls have settled in & we have started making a life here. Some days we miss the beach......like really miss the beach & I miss my Mum & the girls their Nana, Sheree (my crafty soul sista), family & other friends but it is a new different!!! We are keeping positive & finding the heart of our little family.

So I am going to try share our life up here, share my crafty projects (hope that's ok Kaz) & also food stuff (I am loving the food at the moment although my butt isn't), our routine/homeschooling journey, our adventures in the outback (there is plenty of that here) & hopefully some wisdom I have learnt & am learning.

Will leave you some photos of the last month. I just did a collage, but includes tubing, cooking, playing games (new ones for chrissy yeah baby), cooking (first cake pops), major mango overload, chrissy pressies, self portraits. hee hee

Love Me xxx

PS I would so love one of these, wonder where I could find it. Of course its probably in a COOL american shop.

 

December Daily... resuming normal blogging (warning photo heavy)

The fabric has taken a back seat with December looming. I am trying to get my december daily done this year & am quite excited. I have put together a pack to do the album & have a notebook to jot down what we do each day.

I kind of feel like our life is a bit boring, but I know the girls will love it. It is our first year away from family & friends for Christmas so we are trying to build some excitement & make it fun for them. So we will be baking, crafting, finishing off school, playing & just generally hanging out.

Here is what we did today - we usually put up our tree on the 1st but Daddy was at work today, so it will happen tomorrow or Saturday.


1. It was Kates birthday (the girls are very determined on this & so we had a little party) hee. Lulu was so gorgeous & made her a little present & some cards. I love how she just thinks of little details. She is my details kid & loves things just so.....

2. We did school (without too many complaints today) & we are very excited about the new curriculum I have found for next year. It will really encourage them to learn & be fun. (thanks to my new friend Erika, I am feeling so much more confident with teaching etc.)

 3. Played some Guess Who....

(Liv was hilarious could not get a straight shot from her)

and because she is so funny the other shot I got...

absolute crackup this kid. You will have to excuse the photos but at the moment I don't have photoshop as it got taken off my computer & not put back on (grrrrr) & I cannot find the copy on my hard drive!!! Double grrr & Picasa has disappeared!!!!

Tomorrow we are hoping to try these.......(photo taken from Pinterest), fingers crossed we can find all the stuff up here to be able to do them & give away to friends up here. Do you think I could find red/white candy canes today??!!

 (this photo taken from pinterest)

If you have lasted this post.....yay.....see you tomorrow. Hopefull I am back to regular blogging. ROFL

Mel xxx

Watch this Space....

I am going to list some fabric up here to sell......keep your eyes peeled.....

Mel xx

Yes I know...

I"ve fallen off the blogging wagon yet again......been kinda busy with unpacking, cleaning, school & packing again. I have also wasted copious amounts of time on facebook (keeping up with family) & pinterest. The things you will do to survive sick kids, busy husband & a busy life. Hee. Here is one of my favourite images from pinterest at the moment.....it is very addictive & can be time consuming but you can go there & dream a little dream......

 Back soon.

Love Me xxx

Blogging From the Heart,,,,,

 I loved  this post.. 

One thing I have always loved about reading Stephs blog is her honesty but her beauty in saying it. She is so real and yet so classy. I find this so challenging, as originally this blog was set up for scrapping shares & also for my family interstate/overseas to share our life, but not the deep heart wrenching challenges & lessons I am particuarly learning, not leaving myself vulnerable with the struggles I face with some strangers, people I don't hold close........I have very few people I am totally brutally honest with. I guess I like to keep up the facade of "I have it all together", no I don't have bad days because I rely on an amazing God, so how could I have a bad day.....that as a leader (I used to be on a pastoral team) that I had an obligation to not share......people didn't really need to know you were struggling as they wanted to believe that no-one in that position ever goes through anything hard??!!  And aren't I one of those people that everything just goes right for, I haven't had to work hard for anything.....right???.....ha.


So where I am at today:


1. A is away the girls have had the vomits, my house is  a mess, school is almost non existent and I am tired. We have watched more tv than I think in a long time......mother guilt I tell ya....


2. I find it challenging (as Steph) said to fall back into step with him when he goes away and comes back. We get into our own routine, watch what we want on tv,  our eat toast for dinner, go to bed later, chill out....and yet when he is home it is like our eostrogen world is back in balance. ha.


3. I am far too hard on myself and although I don't have the same expectations of everybody else (I seem to have grace for them) I just never give myself a break!!! 


4. I worry about my babies in this world. Homeschooling has eased some of that, but there is such a part of me that wants to hold them close & never let them go. I want to save them from being hurt, hurting and not living a life that God designed for them. I want them to not go through some of the things I have been through. For eg worrying too much what people think of me & taking way too much responsibility for other people.


5. We are back to eating the way we used to, lots of raw and healthy foods but some days when I am tired so easy to fall back into old patterns of quick, easy high carb/starch foods......oh & the chocolate!! LOL.


6. I am killing my butt at the gym, but seriously it is a love/hate relationship. Some days I love it & love how it makes me feel, then other days I think its doing nothing for me & other days it is just plain HARD!!! Exercise is hard, I guess if it wasn't more people would do it??? Not like it was in my 20's where I just LOVED it. Oh how I wish I could look like Jennifer Garner just by saying it!!!!


7. I so wish I could stop comparing myself to other people and just be me. And to not give head space to past relationships that have failed. Dust my feet off and move on.


8. In the last year, I let myself get defeated & sit on my butt watching tv as an escape rather than making myself complete things. So not like me.

I am happy today even with all these struggles. I have a loving husband who seriously adores me, three beautiful girls who are sassy, smart, make me laugh out loud more often than pull out my hair frustration, I have friends who really like me for me (and make me dolls clothes & kick me in the butt when I need it).....what more could a girl need???


Happy Friday.


Love Me xxxx

Today......

Love Me xxxx

We will Remember........

This day changed us in so many ways.
We will remember that many men and women gave their lives & are still giving their lives for the freedoms we enjoy.
I remember like it was yesterday. We were asleep on the other side of the world.........12.05am my brother rang us & told us to put on the tv. We then spent hours glued in front of it,  not really believing it had happened. Anthony was a paramedic at the time and our hearts cried for the families that had lost, the brothers who had lost brothers .......lost everything. And part of me was guilty that I was happy that we were halfway around the world away from it all & yet it still touched us with its evil fingers.

Today it is just as real, knowing that Anthony would be one that would go into a burning building, that there is a community of brothers that would do just that, as that is what they are made of. Serving others, helping others......today I am grateful that we have people that will do that, if not a little scared!!
So today remember that life is precious, grab it with both hands  & don't let go!!! Kiss your kids, kiss your husband,  tell people that you love how much they really mean to you.

Me xxx