Monday, July 31, 2006

WW and new scrapping community...

So I went to my first WW meeting today! Yay! About time. It was great. Motivating. I'm excited about embarking on this journey - and I'm going to ACHEIVE this time around. For life OK! As this is the first time I've done WW though, I need to have a real good look through my books to fully understand how it all works, and then I guess plan a week of eating according to the little info we have been given. I think we get the actualy points converter next week so I'm not sure how I'm meant to calculate it all, but I'm sure I'll get by. Being a breastfeeding mum I'm on 32 points, which I hear is heaps, and often hard to eat that many points. But I also know that its important to make sure I DO take in that many because if not, my body will hold onto my fat stores in order to make my milk instead of using the nutrients from food. So gotta eat my 32 points! Guess tonight I'll be spending a bit of time working out an eating plan. Seeing what I can and can't keep eating and so on. I hope I can get the hang of it enough to have a successful week. I'm looking forward to it though.

In other news, I have been introduced to a gorgeous girl, Sally who is starting a new blog-group. This sounds awesome, so go check it out at www.scrapoffaith.typepad.com (sorry I don't know how to link!). Yes, as the name suggests, it will be christian scrapping site. But that doesn't mean those of you who aren't christian shouldn't go check it out - why not just go have a look! Sally will be making up kits each month and donating 1/2 of proceeds to various organisations. So good on you Sally, and I look forward to being a part of the community.

Hope you all had a great weekend and start to the new week. We had a fairly non-eventful weekend really, so nothing to really report (I don't think). Lol, its Monday night now so I've already forgotten the weekend!

My 5 things today are:
1. A gracious God that is going to HELP me to lose weight!
2. Friends that are going to support me to lose weight - Carol and Jodi, love yas!
3. My beautiful friend Megan.
4. Lusi, who I had a great chat to on Saturday.
5. My dryer again, coz again I didn't get the washing on the line!

Nat xx

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Fearless of Fearful?

While browsing blogs yesterday I came upon a gem on Cathy Zielske's blog (sorry don't know how to link, you probably all have the address anyway). A real thinker. A real change-your-life, or at least your day, experience. She asked us what WE have done in our lives that was FEARLESS??

We go through life harbouring so much fear for what *might* happen, what people *might* think, what *might* go wrong. How true that is!

Let's step out of our comfort zones and really LIVE!

So what have YOU done that has been fearless? Or what did you do anyway DESPITE being fear-FUL??

Took a while to think about this one.

The first thing that sprung to my mind was probably deciding to keep my baby and become a Mum at age 17. This was both a fearless and fearful experience really. There was no way I was terminating my pregnancy - that decision was a fearless one. But anticipating how my life would change, what I would be like as a mother, would I still get a degree/career etc, that was the fearFUL time. But I did it. I changed my life. And it was the best thing I've ever done. God had a plan for my life, and if I had aborted (get shivers at that word) I would most probably not be anywhere near where I am right now in life. Where I am HAPPY right now. I would also most probably not be with MY GOD, and how heart-breaking would that be!

On a day-to-day basis I DON'T do a lot of things that I should, or that God is calling me to do, because of fear. Fear of rejection? Fear of change? I don't know. Fear of stepping out of my comfort zone most probably.

But God calls me to a higher cause! He calls me to STEP OUT IN FAITH! He calls me to be a witness to my non-christian friends. He calls me to be a loving friend and sister to my christian friends. He calls me to serve. He calls me to love.

I just gotta step out.

And this week, I'm gonna try to obey him just that *bit* more, without *thinking* about it. Just do it!

So what have you done?

Nat

Friday, July 28, 2006

bits and pieces

My floor is clean - yes! Got the vacuuming done today (well the important part of the house anyway) which only took me like a week to find time for :)

Naughty naughty me. I have become a bit of a 'spendaholic' lately and its a bad habit I don't want to develop. Have been buying sooo much stuff lately, probably stuff I don't really need either. Gotta kick that quick smart coz won't have the money for it next month... NOT going to spend ANYthing else (except groceries etc) till next months pay - that's two more weeks!!

On the topic of buying, I am so happy that I found a nice dress to wear to a wedding we're going to next weekend. I was starting to get worried I would not find anything, but found a nice one and for 20% off too!

Oh, and I got a nice little parcel from Cass from Scrap Pile today. Some nice little embellishments and ribbons I soooo didn't really need but were so pretty I just had to order them! Naughty.... no more spending I promise!!

Bubby is starting to settle better on his tummy for his day sleeps. I'm a little paranoid about it and am continually checking to see he's breathing! But he's sleeping better for it.... I'm not ready to let him sleep that way through the night though....

He's sleeping through fairly consistently now... provided he has his dinner-feed not too early. He's going between 8-10 hours a night. How blessed are we!! Praise God!

Something seems to be wrong with Greg's car again. It was displaying multiple warning lights on his way home last night, so to be safe I took him to work this morning - nice and early at 6am! He's going to have a closer look at it tomorrow, hoping its nothing coz we only just bought a whole new motor a few months ago.

I went for a walk yesterday! Can you believe it!! Greg and I walked Jaidyn to school, which is about 20 mins each way. I hope to get into a routine of being able to walk him to or from school regularly - depending on when Eli feeds of course...

I'm going to join Weight Watchers on Monday. Am well and truly ready to lose this extra weight now, and sick of putting it off week after week. Losing time when I could be losing weight. Have 2 friends from church joining with me too, so hopefully that will help keep me accountable. And some girls to walk with too :) I have new walking clothes (coz my old stuff didn't fit!) so no more excuses - except its raining today! Ha!

Well better go get baby fed so I can go pick up hubby from work :)

My 5 things today:
1. Beautiful rain! Let's hope it makes enough difference to the dams now :)
2. Grocery day - we have food in the house again now, yay!
3. New scrap stuff
4. Some awesome blogs that have really made me think - eg Cathy Zielske's 'fearless' post from a few days/weeks ago
5. My beautiful little boys :)

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

EnJOYing life...

Eli's early morning feed timed perfectly with watching Joyce Meyer's 'Enjoying Everyday Life' this morning. I always hope that if he wakes during the night, its at 4am so I can get some good spiritual input too!

Anyway, today Joyce spoke on ENJOYING LIFE and having the JOY of God in our hearts, minds and spirits ALWAYS! Now generally I do think think of myself as a 'joyful' person (just ignore the last two posts then, when I'm having a whinge!) so this really rung true with me, and even though I do try to be joyful in all circumstances, its till good to hear the confirmation of the goodness of it from the Bible. I just wanted to share some of the points she made. It may or may not speak to you.

* We need to get rid of thinking that says "I'll be glad when......" Because just when you are over one hurdle, life will shortly give you another - its what life is about. We need to have thinking that says "I'll be glad NOW, no matter what life throws at me!"

* The joy of the Lord should be our normal mood, not something that comes and goes depending on our circumstance at the time.

* Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

* The writer of Eclesiastes (sp?) tells us to be joyful about our work. And rightly so - be thankful you HAVE a job!

* Every day we have to 'put on christ' and choose to have a right mind.

* There is usually a reason for a 'bad mood'... what happened yesterday or this past week that is making us feel this way??

* John 10:10 - Jesus said 'the theif comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may HAVE LIFE, and have it TO THE FULL!'

*THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH!!

And in other news, Mum is coming home for a few hours today (they are letting her do this a couple of times a week now I think - yay!), so Jaidyn is taking the day of school and we're going for lunch ans some special family time :) Really looking forward to seeing her in her own environment again.

5 things to be JOYFUL about today:
1. Spending time with Mum at her house.
2. I got some scrapping done last night, yay!
3. An email from my gorgeous friend Lusi.
4. Milk and bread in the house again!
5. Time with both my boys today.

Have a JOYFUL day all,
Nat xx

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Short and sweet

Not much to say today.

Eli has been terribly unsettled most of the day. Right now he's kinda asleep lying across my lap on his belly, but it probably won't last long, and I can't really do much like this!

The house is a mess and I've done neither of the two things I really wanted to get done today.

Plus I'm really dying to scrap, but who knows when that will happen.

Not much of a productive day really. I just hope I can get a couple things done and the house looking kinda OK for when Greg gets home tonight.

Prayers for a solid afternoon sleep for Elijah please?? (but not too long coz I still want him to sleep tonigh!)

N xx

5 things I'm appreciating for today (and I gotta look to these when having a crappy day):

1. Christian authors who help you to see it how it really is (eg Joyce Meyer).
2. Dummies (of the pacifying variety)
3. Salad sandwiches and cheesecake
4. My dryer
5. That God is in control of my life!!

Monday, July 24, 2006

I hate rush hour

WHY do both children have to chuck tantrums at the same time? And why is it always 5pm?

Here's me trying to finish the dishes, take washing off the line and start tea with one screaming baby who is fighting not to sleep, and one 5-yr old who's chucking a tantrum coz he has to have a bath!

Enough already!

And then DH gets home and wonders why I look like a wreck! Its all in the hour between 5-6pm I tell you!

Enough already!

Bring it on!

Totally looking forward to this week. I have no real engagements! Time for me. Time for my baby. Time for scrapping. Time for the house. Time for God! I've been flat-out with going places a couple of times each day for the last 2 weeks, so I CAN'T WAIT to do NOTHING!! Funny how ou don't realise how much 'me time' means to you till you don't get any. And to all those Mums out there who work full-time, I don't know how you do it! Good on you!

Now, to get off this computer and make the most of this 'me time'.

5 things I'm grateful for today:
1. ME time
2. That I have an awesome husband that works long hours and gets us good money so I don't have to go straight back to work, and can be home with my beautiful baby.
3. A baby that is starting to SLEEP through the night. What a blessing!
4. God's strength
5. Junk mail - gotta love a good catalogue

Have a great week all.
Nat :)

Friday, July 21, 2006

Everyday Moments and Circle Journals

Have been reading all about the new Everyday Moments competition that is being run for the next 8 months by FK and Aussie Scrap Source. Looks good! I'm really interested in participating but most probably not entering the comp. The themes sound inspirational and topics that I *should* have in an album anyway. So I'm going to try to challenge myself to do the 3 layouts for each topic each month, but I'm just gong to use whatever p[roductd I have or want to. I'm just going to make it for me. I think I'll stick with the 8.5x11 format size as I'm really enjoying using it now, and definitely don't think I could go back to 12x12 - just too big... mind you, I'm totally LOVING how NIC does her pages (12x12 and 8.5x11) of late, with lots of white (or colour!) space around the focus of pics and elements in the centre. Looks great Nic - you're such an inspiration to me....

I have also been thinking lately that I'd like to be involved in another Circle Journal! I really loved doing CJs and its been a while since I've done one.... so does anyone want to join me? The beautiful Lusi is already interested, but we need some more girls! Let me know hey!

Anyway, that's about all today. Had another totally busy day as has been my whole last few weeks! Tomorrow I don't have to BE anywhere, so I'm going to have a GOOD day! Will plan to do stuff (bit of housework, bit of scrapping etc) but probably won't get anything done as usual!!

Have a good weekend all.
N xx

5 Things I'm grateful for today:
1. The Internet
2. Greg's day off
3. Awesome scrapping inspiration from girls like YOU!
4. Worship music
5. My pastor, Craig

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Celebrating Life!

Been trying to think of a new title for my blog. Want to portray the gift that is life, and be positive. Not sure if this will stick, as its not too sassy lol, but until I think of something better, I will be CELEBRATING LIFE.

In order to do that, I'm going to steal a leaf from Lusi's blog and list some things I'm grateful for today.

1. Living in Australia where there is no war.
2. Family
3. A good cuppa in the morning.
4. A good income so I can bless others.
5. Life!

Enjoy your lives today all :)

Random thoughts

When you have only a few moments in the early hours of the morning, a random post seems to be the way to get some things down.

* My baby seems to be beginning to sleep through, yay! For the last two nights he's slept from about 9.30-5am. It would be better if it was 6am, but I do like getting up early - having some time to myself before Jai gets up. Yay to little Eli!

* Just watching the news... there is so much crap going on in our world these days. So much disaster. War in Lebanon, another tsunami, shootings, dog maulings... where are the feel-good stories these days huh? I guess that's why I like watching ACA and Today Tonight, coz they usually have some stuff that renews our faith in human nature. Makes me ponder just how close the end of this world (and the coming of my Lord!) may be?

* New life is such a miracle! Praise God! Just looking at my little man who has just fallen asleep in his rocker next to me, his dummy squashed up against his little face - so precious. Yes, there is definitely still much beauty in this world....

* I'm addicted to coffee. Not so good when I should be cutting down while breast-feeding, but I just seem to want more and more... and so not good for the colour of my teeth either.

* I participated in Kim's online class 'Hour of Power' yesterday... well, it was an hour of chaos for me. lol! Got about half of it done I think, but I MUST finish it, so it doesn't end up in my pile of UFOs that just gets bigger and bigger. Thanks though Kim! Your stuff is always beautiful.

* Will be catching up briefly with Dianna, Shazz, Ruthy and some other ladies on Friday. I have't met Shazz yet, so that will be good, and always good to see Ruthy's smiling happy face!

* The Biggest Loser is coming back! Yay! Gotta love that show. They really make AJ look so big on TV though. I have her book and thought she was much thinner... unless they MADE her get fatter... who would do that though when it was suc a struggle to get it off? Anyway, hopefully I'l be able to get all motivated and lose weight WITH them this time :)

* Gotta go see my Mummy today. Haven't ben for a week and a half ad I feel terrible that I have let life get so busy around me. I'm just DYING for a day off, to just sit at home and do nothing (but a bit of housework).. but it seems its not to be this week!

* Just wanna do a call-out to my beautiful friend Lusi! Love you girl and really trying to find some time to have a chat! Last night was just not working... lol... cell group tonight, but maybe tomorrow night huh? Hope you are feeling better today sweetie :) thinking of you and your gorgeous family.

Have a great day all,
N xxx

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Swamped!

Goodness me, been SO swamped lately! Swamped with relatives staying, swamped with meetings to attend, swamped with just general things to do! Yikes! Actually today will be the first day in like 2 weeks or so that I don't really HAVE to go out. Well, apart from groceries after school and to duck down to print some photos... lol, my life never seems to be 'totally free' anymore...

I'm doing Kim Archer's Hour of Power class today, which I'm really looking forward to! I just hope this computer will work for long enough to be there for the class. Our internet connection is stuffed somehow (probably the cheap wireless Greg bought), so I'm using his brother's Apple today. Now, apple is rather different to PC and I'm pretty computer-illiterate, so I'll probably break something before 1pm today! Fingers crossed. Anyway, the class is 'what's in a name?' so I'm going to do Eli (and then may even mimic it to do Jaidyn's name too... but I think I'm going to use the actual meaning of his name rather than using the acronym (?) like Kim has, as Eli doesn't really have *much* of a defined personality just yet!

Caught up with Erica, Roz, Tash and some of the Boxx girls on Monday. Was a great lunch together, although seems ed to go too fast as I didn't get thre till 11.30am and had to leave again at 2pm to do school pick-up! Think I was almost driving for longer than I was socialising... was good to see the girls though, and I got to meet the gorgeous little mcKenna Glover. she's just such an adorable little bundle Eck! hope to see you girls again soon, this time for a scrap day hey!

We took the boys to the Sciencentre on Saturday while the in-laws were up. I don't think I've been there since I was a kid, so it was almost a new experience. Lots of fun and cool stuff there. Our favourite thing was the giant table and chairs... its not really that scientific or anything but they've made furniture 1.75 times larger than normal, so its like you are a 3-yr old when you get up there! An absolute hoot! We took lots of pics, but i'll have to show those later when Greg hooks this Mac to our PC. I was really tired that day for some reason (even though I had a fairly good night's sleep) so I found some of it a little more boring than if I had more energy... man I really need to start to get out exercising again to help boost that!

Anyway, got lots to do today. have a whole house of cleaning that needs some attention, darn it.

N xx

Sunday, July 09, 2006

More piccies

Hi all,

Just thought I might include some more piccies of the boys. Been trying to snap some whenever I can with Jaidyn home this week, however its so hard to get any decent ones! This one would be so much better without that dummy, lol! But I guess that's what kept him quiet so its part of it huh!


































You may also notice the change in template... that last one was so boring. And I'm so unskilled when it comes to making pretty banners and html, so I can't even do a nice one of me and my boys... anyone offering for me??? please?? So a nice bright pink will have to do for now.... except that when I changed I lost all my blog links - bum..... so I'll work on slowly getting them back up.... (Lus, can you please email me your blog link again, so that I can keep uo with what's going on in your life please..?)

Well it seems that's all the pics blogger will let me upload in this post, so I'll post some more later. Now, I better go get my butt scrappin. I'm doing a mini concertina album for my Nana's b'day - which is today! I have a couple of hours to finish it... nothing like leaving it to the last minute!

Nat xx

Thursday, July 06, 2006

I'm back

I have missed my poor pc so much. You may not have noticed, but I haven't been around for a week. My poor computer had something wrong with it.... I don't know what, I don't know how to check or what to look for, so it sat there unloved for a week until Greg had a chance to look at it... and now it *seems* to be working again, yay!

So lots to catch up on! (So typical that when I can't blog I seem to have so much to blog about!)

Greg is now a store manager of Aldi. He has totally worked his butt off the last 2 weeks setting up and opening his store at Toombul in Brisbane (if you're in there have a look or say hello to my handsome man!). Poor thing did about 100 hours between breaks.... wow, 100 hours!!! That was over about 8-10 days I think. I tell you he was soooo buggered his last two days of work I didn't know if he'd make it! I'm being a wonderful wife and have booked him in for a surprise massage on Saturday afternoon - he so needs it and so deserves it!

Mum is doing really well. Its such a blessing to see her improving so much. She's still in hospital while they continue to clean and heal her stomach wound but she looks so well, she has no tubes, her mental state is pretty good too, and well its just good to have 'Mum' back again...
And, she has FINALLY met Eli! It was such a special occasion. She hasn't held him yet, but we will go see her today, so hopefully she will be able to today. I took some pics of their first meeting, five and a half weeks after he entered the world (not good pics, but they document a special time).













My baby boy is now 6 weeks old! Goodness me, I can't believe it! You'd think I'd be able to get a nice photo though huh. No such luck - newborns are such a pain to photograph! This is his favourite *pose*: (well blogger doesn't want to let me upload any more pics for now, so I'll have to try again later.... ggrrrrr...)

Having the pc AWOL actually gave me time to scrap and not just procrastinate and waste time at the pc like I normally do.... have found some girls from church to scrap with now so that's awesome. As usual though, I haven't done the journalling on my LOs yet, so can't share them - really must get a new good black pen and do that!! (or maybe I'll use the computer instead)...

Well, better get going upstairs and spend some time with hubby while he's home this morning - and there's groceries to do and housework, darn it... will update some more later when I have time to think and when blogger will let me put pics up :)

N xx