Shake things up a bit

Morning all!  The days are getting slightly warmer and we've even seen the sun for a moment or two recently.  One cannot help but think of sunny happy days ahead where lifestyle turns to outdoors, bare feet and sun kissed cheeks. Oh I cannot wait, have recently begun feeling a bit of cabin fever, I feel as though we are watching to much t.v, we need to get outside for an entire day and play and play and play.  I'm also over colds and such bugs....yuck!!! so over it although I have noticed this month that bugs are short lived, our immune systems are finally gaining some strength.
Earlier this week I was reading Planning with Kids  Nicole gave an overview of her routine during the week, I love getting insight into other women's days how do they manage? What do they let slip from time to time? Which are the main priorities within that household and most importantly I always come out with a handy tip or two.  The thing that stood out for me in this blog was that playtime with the children was included, it's obviously an important part of the day and one that I sometimes find tricky to include each day.  So after reading this blog I felt inspired and changed things around in my routine, we usually have play time in the arvo and usually its after the cleaning or a busy day out of the house and before cooking dinner and bathtime, looking back now I'm thinking "der Jodes!!!, tired, busy, hungry time of day!!!" what was I thinking???  So last week we changed things, after breaky and clean up we played (it worked out well as Little Bear was recovering from a bug and we weren't planning on being anywhere all day) It happened naturally actually the children were asking for me to join in and so we built towers and Mr Spaghetti the dinosaur knocked them over, we built leggo houses and castles and after an hour or so I set up a little doctors bag with bandages and syringes etc and the children went on to play nurses while I began on the house work.  I couldn't believe the calm through out the house everyone happy and satisfied, and in giving the children the full attention for that hour they were content on letting me do my thing for an hour before lunch.  After lunch we made muffins together as a yummy treat.  The girls made rasberry and chocolate (cocoa) and Mr Spaghetti and I made Date and Sultana, all without sugar and packed with oats, almond meal and chia seeds, a drizzle of Maple Syrup before putting them in the oven and fingers crossed.  Wow, these were great!!! I am still getting use to this old oven and create more disasters than wholesome goodness in the cake department, but these worked a treat I forgot to mention we used Jalna Vanilla yogurt (no sugar) also and it gave them a lovely moist texture. MMmm mmmm, we were very proud.
So what is on for today, well you wouldn't believe it Little Bear and I came down with sore throats last night and Little Bear a temp also, so today another day at home no ballet or kinder.  A light  lunch lots of fruit and I think a bush walk afterwards.  We fed the kookaburras on Sunday it looks as if they're building a nest in a tree at the front of our house we shall take the binoculars out with us for a closer look.  And a bit of house cleaning ....of course.
I went for a 4km run with Mr Spaghetti in the pusher yesterday, my leg felt great and I noticed myself smiling half way through.  It felt so wonderful,  a beautiful day at the lake, still and misty and not as cold as previous mornings and Mr Spaghetti and I were just happy.....Such a lovely way to be and jogging 4kms I had time to enjoy it,  a lovely distraction for the hard work of my legs and lungs!!
I hope you all out there are enjoying your happy days and if your missing out on them lately hang in there and  perhaps shake things up a bit.  x

Rewarding Challenges

Today I had an appointment with the physio to treat these painful shin splints (pain in the muscle), I will hopefully go for a small jog tonight or tomorrow morning and following stretches three times a day and arch supports for my shoes I should be back to pounding the streets and longer distances (or should I say gracefully striding along on my toes) fingers crossed as I'm finding running very rewarding of late.
 Speaking of rewarding, today was the end of our sugar challenge!!!  I found it really helped my diet in ways previously mentioned and although I cannot wait to indulge in pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries I have no desire to eat 2-3 rows of chocolate or add sugar to my coffee.
 Another area that I've been challenging myself lately is the dreaded budget.  I like to go over it every couple of months, especially when I feel like going on a big shopping spree it changes my perspective of whats important.  So this month the aim was to cut food and groceries down buy $100 per week and general spending/shopping down by $150 per week.  In two weeks I've gotten groceries down by $200 and I've not been shopping for myself or the children or home etc in a fortnight!  I don't know how long this will last but if I can achieve a month of no clothes shopping etc every say six months and stick to the new budget every spending month than  that would be quite wonderful.  My budget is quite generalized for spending I have food (this includes cafes,groceries and even magazines), general spending(clothes, entertainment, toys, car wash etc),  bills, house repayments/ interest, fuel and cash out.  I find this gives me a little more freedom, if I want to eat out a lot one week I'll cut down on some items at the supermarket etc.  Some days or weeks we need a little frivolity as opposed to counting every last dollar.  Next month I'm going to compare our electricity supplier with others and hopefully safe a bit there also.  Going back to my groceries and food budget I've replaced one of my Safeway shops with Aldi and have found a great little fruit shop which has great tasting produced (sometimes a little blemished, less chemicals perhaps?) and it's really very cheap.  We only eat meat 2-3 times a week, although we eat fish 2-3 times which can be expensive however very HEALTHY so worth it, And also I'm going to save heaps on Chocolate and Sugar!! x

Happy thoughts before bed

I'm on my way to bed, I feel drained and sleepy and am going to bed earlier than usual which is another of my little challenges this week.  It has been a long day, very emotional and I've thought way to much, am sure that I shall sleep well tonight and a new day should be there waiting in the morning.  I did go for a run today which of course helped but I later realised that my phone is not working at all and so have missed my husbands little message's throughout the day which always give me strength.
 So happy thoughts before bed, I have a beautiful little life that I'm very in love with, I am still challenging myself and growing as a person, meeting wonderful people, my beautiful husband is home in 3 or 4 sleeps, I found words of encouragement and although written by a stranger I'm sure they were aimed at me, my 3 little angels are safe and well tucked up in their beds dreaming of their special places and I remembered to lock-up the chickens  tonight (Jack frost has been out of late). Nighty night. x 

A little bit of Saturday....

Beautiful day at the beach today, fresh salty air, gorgeous company and envy over those lucky few on there boards in that glorious swell.....ooooohhh to be free to be free!  The children kicked of shoes and built sand castles while we sipped on lattes and milkshakes.  Lots of cuddles and daydreaming out to sea, that magical sea!  The children  and  I will awake in the morning revived from the salt air and the sun and I shall sneak out for a run as I missed out this morning.  Hopefully another sunny day and  outside again we can play!
No sugar now for SIX days, I'm proud to say that little in my cupboard  actually contains sugar apart from the sugar (which I've left on the bench) and the honey  and that chocolate which is still in the cupboard and not been touched since Sunday.  Each night I've fought my sugar cravings and by night two I ate and ate (sugar free), searching for the hit.  Tonight I've not even flinched, I don't think I want it, wow....
Today my phone is playing up, I cannot be heard when I make calls so it's like I've been prank calling people all day and I can hear them and their worried, confused voices.  The timing is perfect however as on Tuesday I ordered myself a new phone as the camera and often the touch screen don't work on my current one, to often man handled by kiddlets one, two and three!  Hubby also has the charger for our big camera and  he's away so I am having  big happy snap and hubby withdrawals! Watch out  happy snap blog coming up!! x

The Sugar what?????

I've just eaten a spinach, beetroot and goats cheese salad with chickpeas and lemon yogurt dressing, whoo hoo!  Mrs Spunky is doing a two week sugar free challenge, absolutely no sugar, no honey, nothing, zip, not a trace, she's even checking the ingredients on breads etc WHOO HOO!!!
 I decided to see if I could cut out the tsp of sugar I have in my coffee twice a day, It somehow was quite easy, I don't miss it at all, very surprising.  So as The Sugar Challenge date neared I somehow decided to see how I would go.  I'm still deciding if this was a good idea or not.  The timing was as good as it could get, the new fitness routine and step up from walking to jogging has really increased my confidence and enthusiasm.  Also my diet to date is quite balanced and contains minimal processed foods.  The real challenge for me, oh golly! "the kids are in bed and I'm exhausted, if I just fold that pile of washing and tidy up I can treat myself to 1/2 a block of top deck" challenge.........
It's day four and I'm coping, a little surprised to see what they sneak sugar into these days but going well.  It's quite amazing actually by challenging yourself how you end up looking for healthier alternatives rather than simply omitting sweet.  My downfalls in the healthy eating department are not enough fruit, not enough water and too much Chocolate.  While I've not yet found a replacement for my nightly binge (Mrs Spunky told me to try fruit, an orange perhaps, well last night I wanted to throw an orange at her! )  I've replaced honey on my porridge with dried and fresh fruits and afternoon snacks are now natural yogurt and fruit and nuts rather than well no yogurt and probably not enough fruit.
So these changes are okay, the one thing I've not omitted is the soy milk of which I probably drink 500ml a day, it contains raw sugar.  Everything else is gone. Yay!  I think I'm feeling better and I seem to be sleeping better, as the weeks progress I will notice more of a differnce.  Some of the girls are doing the challenge for weight-loss others for a healthier lifestyle, the idea is to make the challenge a couple of times annually to create a healthier happier you.  Have a look at  fitness food and style a very inspirational blog where Danny keeps a daily record of her diet, including photographs of the food and also before and after shots of her pregnancies.xx