Renovations

Well for those who have known me for a while will be well aware that we have been renovating our little house for quite some time. And we are still at it, I would think we may have been finished if we did not decide to go on holidays and live life along the way.

A wise woman said to me one day that the kids will remember the holidays but not a freshly painted wall and I am agree wholeheartedly.

I am happy to say that we did not decide to go away recently and made the executive decision to see if we could paint our bedroom which would mean we could actually say that we had finished a room.

The photos below are of the room before, The white rectangular shapes on the wall are where the old wardrobes were and not shown in this shot is the frieze that I had already removed from around the top of all walls.

Before

We have lived with this lovely (ARRRRRGH) shade of pink for the whole time we have lived here, So you can imagine my delight when I saw the results of the finshed product.

After

We are both very happy with our new room and have decided it is time to finish the down stairs bathroom. Will keep you updated.

Thanks

Tania

Where he got to in 2011

I have been wanting to write this post for some time now but with christmas and a very busy January I am just managing to get to it now, So I am really proud to give to you my little man B's latest and longest piece of work he has ever produced. Written with enthusiasm which makes us all very happy.
So here we go the latest addition and a great way to end the school year in 2011


It all started at a little village called One Tree Hill Road and at a little house there was a little boy called Jack and he lived with his Father and Mother.
One night Jack went hunting for food. He found a red egg.
When he went home he hid the egg in some hay.
The next night the egg started to hatch into a dragon, a red dragon. Then the dragon breathed blue fire onto Jacks hand which made a spiral shape, then Jack fell asleep.
Then the next morning the dragon was hungry then the dragon saw a rat, then the dragon ate the rat.
Then Jack taught the Dragon to fly,then the dragon flew away and the dragon grew into full size then came to Jack was amazed mean while at jacks house his father was attacked by Rarsacks. The Jack came home and saw his father dying so Jack finished his life so he didn't see his father suffer.
Jack was angry. Some man came to see what had happened his name was Brock, He said we must go, Jack said I have to bury him, Brock said I will set the place on fire.
Then Brock set the place on fire. In a minute the place was a huge fire . Then Jack was upset, then they set off into the jungle and they rode on the horses for a while untill they stopped .
Brock and Jack will we make camp here said Brock, Jack said will we be safe? Brock said Yes as long as nobody see's us we will be safe here. Then they set up camp. then it became night. Then they went to bed they saw nasty mean growlers, they ran away from the growlers. Brock said that was close and quick lets go so we can get some sleep.
Brock you stay and ambush the growlers.


And the story  may continue, We are so proud of his efforts so far.
TFV
Tania

Dealing with the In between

How times have moved on since I started this blog in 2010.

I first started this blog to assist/encourage my daughter to write (detailed in post on 27th Feb 2010).

I have just been looking over some of my previous posts and have come to realise that even though my children still have an opportunity to post their writing on here, which of course I encourage and find it to be a wonderful way for them to receive feed back and encouragement from the outside world. I have also found myself utilising it to put my ideas down, I did not expect this when I started

Unfortunately I have not been able to blog as much as I would have liked over the past twelve months, with working full time, being Mum and wife there was not much time for those things let alone time and energy left to give over to my inner thoughts and write my blog.

So late last year my husband and I decide it was time to make some changes, so primarily I could give more time to the kids. This meant I needed to leave my Management position at a training organisation and have commenced working at my husbands business. Which means I can drop the kids off at school, pick them up and be home for them to help with homework etc and even manage a play date in there resulting in much happier children.

I have not regretted this decision for one moment, I have less stress, I spend more time with my kids as stated and get to see my husband more, bonus all around.( of course not so much when said husband is having a bad day)

But (there is always a But) I am finding myself in a very interesting predicament, which I am sure I am not the only one out there,

And that is,

Who am I now ?

Yes I am a mother, a wife (got that and proud to be so)

But I felt I used to be more.

I was a mentor, a leader, I held a position where I could pass on my knowledge to help others progress and achieve, I was learning new things everyday and was challenged.

I find this situation an interesting place to be in, I have an opportunity and the time to invest in the requirements needed to help both our children, who have Dyslexia and processing issues as well as pursue my goals concerning food establishments that cater for children that have to eat a Gluten Free Diet.( that is another problem within itself) if you are know of any I would love to hear about it over @wheatenfree.blogspot.com

This situation I find myself in is all new but not surprising, especially not only to myself but to those that know me well.

I am sure with time I will find myself gaining the satisfaction required to make me feel like I am contributing in a way that I feel satisfied.I also recognise I need a challenge in life and I realise that I am on my way to meet that challenge but how do I deal with the time in between?

Faces

This is my entry into the photo fun hapinening over at hhtp://stickyfingers1.blogspot.com

Where a theme is put up each week and the challenge is to take a photo or find an old one to share.

I have finally managed to fiind a few minutes to share one of my photo's.

This one is of my daughter when we were having fun in the sun and we can go nowhere in sunny Australia without our pink zinc cream.

And I just love the crinkles across her nose.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tania

I remember

I have not had time recently to head over to http://inkpaperpen.blogspot.com/
But having a few minutes spare tonight to wander over and see what is going on, the opportunity to visit some exercises that we had attempted earlier has proven to be the perfect opportunity to use this time for reflection.
I chose to revisited a timed exercise with the title of I remember.
I have used this exercise to write the things I remember about my Nan who unfortunately passed away two weeks ago.
So thank you Inkpaperpen for giving me a prompt to write some memories that will now last for more than a lifetime.
Tan

I Remember


I remember the time we spent with you over our school holidays, and thinking back I wonder why you were happy to have four screaming kids with you for an extended period of time.
I remember your love of coffee, icecream and the Woman's Day.
I remember your passion for your garden.
And your little dogs Tiny and Ish
I remember you hair always being silky grey.
I remember when you walked, one of you feet would slightly turn outwards.
I remember our trips to the shopping centre and always stopping at the toy store on our way home.
I remember your red shoe's and how your little dogs would go crazy when you put them on, as they knew it was time for walk.
I remember you sitting in your favourite chair watching the tennis while you knitted something special or painted your nails.
I remember that moisturiser which was contained in a pineapple shaped dispenser and that you were the only person I knew who would moisturise their elbow's
I remember the long chats we would have over a cuppa when I came home from school.
I will always remember being grateful that my children can say they knew their great Nan.
I remember you.

Photographer in the making (maybe)

I saw the add in the paper, Cranbourne is turning 150Yrs and the Bulla Bulla Community Centre was celebating by hosting a photgraphic competition.

I have always enjoyed photography and my daughter and son have both shown an interest,

so I thought it would be nice to enter.

The theme for the competition was to take a photo in the Cranbourne area and to use your imagination.

So one sunny Saturday afternoon we went to Cranbourne to take our photos, we only went to three locations within the main area of Cranbourne, one being a local Presbytarian Church, two was the Old Shire Offices and thirdly was a park.

Click click went the camera the three of us taking in turn to take our shots.

Once we had exhausted all of our prospective phot options, we headed home to sort through which ones we would print and enter into the competition.

Once all set with our photos, I headed down to the community Centre to drop off our entries, mind you on the last possible day and quite late in the day and with the week I was having it was lucky I managed to get them in at all.

The weeks went by and we planed to attend the display night where the winners were to be announced.

The week of the function arrived and I received a phone call from one of the organisers to see if we were definitely coming, as one of our family members had been short listed, Well wasn't this a surprise, we had been excited just to be involved in the competition, let alone be in the running for a prize.

The Friday night of the function finally arrived and the three of us went to see the display, We managed to get a quick look at some of the photos before we were all called in for the formal part of the evening.

The first winner to be announced was the winner of the junior section which was up to 12 years, so both my daughter and son were eligible to win and at this stage we did not know who was short listed.

Then it came, my son was announced the winner of the junior section, well you could imagine my joy and his on receiving his certificate and an envelope holding a $100 note, You could not hide the excitement from his face, as he had never seen an $100 note let alone have one.

The announcements kept on flowing and it was time to announce the photo that was awarded best in show and to my utter amazement my sons photo was announced as the winner.

Up he went with a look of complete surprise and was given an envelope with $200 in it. my goodness me you could not wipe the grin of his face.

What a fantastic night we had, I am still in absolute awe of my little man and how he conducted himself and how he interacted with all the people who came and spoke to him about his photo and the pride I have in the fact that my kids are willing to put themselves out there and give things an red hot go.

My daughter was very gracious over her brother winning and that in itself makes me proud to call our kids ours.

Tan

One Liner

This is my one liner for the challenge over at inkpaperpen where you had to create a sentence about your day. It certainly does not have any creative flair,but it certainly states how I felt about my day.

Home is where my heart is and where I find comfort in my own space,work is where my mind and body has to be, too find an even balance of both, seems like an unattainable miracle.

thanks
Tania