|| Mumma Daze ||

Well, we're not. The pool builders are. We're paying them to build it. Same same right? I've seen a lot of tradies at work, and these guys are among the hardest working I've seen. Dirt & concrete wait for no man.  It's also far more exact than I could have ever anticipated. Our pool is precisely measured, squared and hand sculpted, not even kidding. Those guys were out there with fixed tape measures, ensuring everything was perfect. We're honestly truly grateful for the care they've taken in their work. It really instills a sense of trust when you see that from a worker - regardless of industry.  We are at day 23 of the build. I wish I'd kept a daily Dear Diary. Because like anything we do, this has not been without drama, hiccups and challenges.... like every single day.  Let me take you back... to May, yes May! We signed the contract in the first week of May. We knew our pool guy was busy (any wonder given how wonderful a job he's done), and he

  On Friday evening, I made cake.  I took a 70-cent packet mix, added about 50-cents worth of milk, maybe 10-cents worth of butter, and an egg, beat it to death, baked it and voila cake.  We iced it with another 5-cents of butter, a splash of milk and a cup of icing sugar and topped it with hundreds & thousands.  So, let’s call it a dollar fifty? $1.50. I made the cake for no reason other than it was Friday and everyone was a bit urgh. And I thought well, cake makes everyone happy!  When that cake was ready, we were taking advantage of the oven being on and pre-heated to cook dinner, which would take about 40 mins.  So ya know what, we ate cake before dinner.  Do you know what that does to a family? It was the cheekiest thing we’d done in ages, we felt like we’d broken the rules of the world and boy did we smile about it.  Dinner came and went; everyone was far more relaxed than they were just an hour or two earlier. We sat at the table and played a board game. Right, I thought, th

I always wondered, or found it strange, or considered it a bit over the top... when any person announced the commencement of their weight loss / exercise routine or regime...and used the word journey. journey /ˈdʒəːni/ Learn to pronounce noun an act of travelling from one place to another. An act of travelling from one place to another. Well, if you're making changes to what you eat, doing more exercise or undertaking any actions with an intent to lose weight or get fit. You aren't travelling anywhere. Right? So in 2019. I wanted to type this year. But it's not. So in 2019, hubs and I underwent / started a weight loss.... JOURNEY. Yeah, now I get it. Because I've done it. I'm doing it.  Each little benchmark is a station, a stop, a destination.  And your intent is to keep moving, onto the next benchmark. The next goal. Whether that be more reps, more Km's, more kg's, a new yoga move, more

It's nice when you find a friend. It's really shit when you realise they aren't a good one. Defining the moment when you've made a friend is tough. It is a relationship after all, but unlike a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship (words escape me) there's no requirement for a question to be posed... "Will you be my friend?" unless you're maybe 5 or 6 years of age in a playground. Why oh why don't we retain that precious vulnerability to continue to ask that question? If you *think* you've made a friend, you likely have. Is it that easy? Sure! Do they laugh with you? Break bread with you? (figuratively - common tongue would be - do you share food or drink together?) Do they support you when things aren't always perfect? That's a friend. Do they talk behind your back about you? Not a friend. Do they ignore you when you're in their presence? Not a friend. Do they change the story depending on who they speak to? Not a friend.

Did you sing it? And so this is Christmas Easter...what have we done? It's at these times of year that I crave the seeming simplicity of generations or years gone by. When long weekends such as these meant the shops really were closed, that you really couldn't go out for lunch, that there wasn't anywhere else to be - except present. Now, every long weekend is fraught with plans. Who gets first dibs to host the family get-together, the friends get-together. Did you leave it too late and now everyone is busy and you haven't been included? Which two hour window of which day can you see each family group? Will you get any time at all to just unwind? How many odd jobs around the house can we fit in? Should we go camping like everyone else and then spend two days on the road in the most horrendous traffic of the year? My intentions are always to bring back some of that missing simplicity. With the thought that perhaps if I set the scene, everyone can enjoy it. Sh

I recently had an eye opening experience in regards to my health. It was nothing serious - thankfully. But enough for me to realise something had to change. I HAD to change. Do you remember that old Aussie TV ad, where the parents call the daughter and say "are you looking after yourself?" To which she would reply "yes, I'm looking after myself" as she tucked into a frozen meal (if I remember correctly)? If YOU asked yourself that question today, and answered it truthfully, what would your answer be? I was not honest with myself for a long time. Believing that 5-7 hours of broken sleep every night was okay. That 5 espressos a day was par for the course with my job. That I truly was far too busy to exercise. (Lets save the stop being busy for the sake of being busy for another day) None of this is true. Over a short period of time after a foot injury, I gained some weight, enough to go up a clothing size. Prior to that I had maintained the same rela