Life's twists and turns

Isn't life a funny wee beast?

2013 finds us taking stock, tightening our belts even further and dreaming big. I have been perusing Tiny Houses, caravans, house trucks and motor homes   I've fallen in love with Tiny Homes but think that a Caravan or Motor home may be the road we take.

I have been reading a blog today written by a wonderfully adventurous (well she seems so to me at least) woman who is doing what I would dearly love to do... her blog can be found here. My DH has consented to picking up sticks in about 3 years time and touring our beautiful country with me so we now have a goal to work towards.

The idea of downsizing and in the process de-cluttering appeals alot, so much so that I have begun divesting our home of bits and pieces. Each item I get rid of by donating, listing for auction or just simply throwing away leaves me feeling just a little bit freer. 

New Year Camping Trip

This week we found ourselves making a beeline for Manatutu Hot Springs Camp Site in the Kaweka Forest Park where we tested our tent pitching abilities. I'm pleased to say that both tents stayed up through some strong winds during the night. 

The Department of Conservations (aka DOC) website indicated that there was water available from a stream, unfortunately the stream was a decent 20 minute distance away down a rather steep trail which left a few of us feeling a bit jittery when it came to climbing down and up again.

 

Once we'd climbed down we found that there were some nice places downstream which looked like they could be good swimming spots. The hot pools lived up to their names, we all had a short dip in them (we suspect they would be cooler or perhaps more comfortable during colder weather).

As we have a total fire ban at present which extended to our camping spot we used our primus very carefully and enjoyed american hotdogs :0) There is nothing quite like enjoying a cup of tea made in a billy!

Christmas is coming

 

 Isn't the Internet a wonderful tool?  

While perusing PinInterest a few weeks ago I came across a photo that linked to Lisa's Craft Blog where she has a tutorial for puzzle piece ornaments. 

As I happen to own a 1,000 piece puzzle which I purchased specifically for a purpose such as this I began gluing and glittering until my heart was content - above are six of my creations.  I have yet to put ribbons on them but once they have been attached they will grace our Christmas tree this year.  

A Time of Change

The last three months have seen some fairly radical changes to our lives as a family so I must apologise for being missing in action so to speak.

Time to craft has been hard to come by but I have managed to snatch time occasionally to create.  Above is a paint chip decorated cover of a new journal and the first page of the same journal.

Radical I guess only just begins to describe the life less ordinary we are creating for ourselves. Earlier this year we moved back to the rental we vacated a year earlier to lower our living costs. Two months ago we made the decision to become a single income family and we have begun to shed the trappings which we'd begun to take for granted - things like cable tv,  a high speed internet connection, convenience food and national calling.

We've started doing simple things like baking our own bread, meal planning and cooking meals from scratch, op shopping, borrowing books/cds/dvds from the library and whenever possible walking. All things we did prior to becoming a double income family and we are all feeling the better for it.

As promised

Project Life pockets filled with scrapbooking papers and other items I've been collecting, alas no photos yet but never fear they will be added through the reminder of the month!

Note quite as colourful as the first but this page is probably more complete
(but by no means finished yet as I want to add some journaling to it)

And finally some backgrounds I've cut out from an educational prospectus which I intend to scatter into other layouts as time goes by.  

I haven't used any of Becky Higgins cards as I've not yet found the funds to purchase a kit (and they're not yet on sale here in NZ) but the minute I do I'll post pictures of them!

A New Project...

Surfing Pinterest I literally stumbled across Project Life - a really neat system by Becky Higgins which has had me intrigued and just a little bit excited. You see I haven't taken up scrapbooking simply because of a lack of time and resources but this system seems fantastic as it is made up of small cards which would be so much faster to put together. So tonight I ordered a mixture of 12 Photo Pocket Pages so that I can sample Project Life and see if its for me. Keep an eye out for my first finished page!

Deep Breaths....

Another attitude of gratitude journal page

Decorated Diary - 28th June 2012

My youngest daughter put together these awesome flowers on this page

 

My Journal side on - packed full of decorations, photos, journaling etc....

Nature - Altered CD

Being made to slow down

Over the past few weeks there has been an advertisement on the television blaring about having "no time for sick" showing an overworked sick mother racing around her kitchen, feeding her children and trying to get them out the door all in the effort to sell their product.  Not only is this advertisement loud but it grates horribly on the nerves, it has gotten me thinking though, and probably not in the way the advertising agency intended.

You see there have been plenty of times where I've thought 'uhh ohh - sore throat', 'nope cannot be', 'I cannot get sick', 'I do not have time to be sick'. Recent events however have made me examine these thought processes slightly.

Last week when I began to come down with the cold my daughter had had for almost a week I had to stop, take stock and practice what I have been preaching to her in previous days... i.e. you need to stop, take time to rest and look after yourself, and I'm pleased to say that that is what I've done. It hasn't been easy I have to admit, taking time off work, ignoring the housework, asking others to help when needed and pretty much having to live at a slower pace so that I can get well has been somewhat of a learning curve but in the long run it has paid off, the cold is slowly resolving and I haven't experienced the normal dreaded fibromyalgia flare which almost always accompanies a cold like this.

I don't think that the "no time for sick" company quite intended their potential consumer to react in this manner, sadly they won't be making any money from me any time in the future.

Do you slow down and take time to get through illnesses? Or do you power on as we're bombarded to believe we should?

Ruru Says... Watch Out!

Ruru Says.... Speed Kills

Ruru Says... Wet Road?

Ruru Says... Drive Wise

Ruru Says... Never Drive