A blue day - time for some favourite things

For lots of reasons I'm having a 'blue' day.

I've put my back out and am in quite a bit of pain. 

I think we all have an 'achilles heel' and mine is my lower back.  I've been lucky with it for months so can't complain I suppose....but it really hurts and the sciatic pain that has hitched a ride is even more annoying!

To cheer myself up I've been playing with my new iPhone and using Instagram to capture a couple of images that are making me cheerful. 

As you know, I love a little blue and green and this little vignette above is my favourite at the moment :)  The lamp is a very special piece that my mum has passed onto me....it is at least as old as me and may possibly be buried with me I love it that much!!  The vases are a Freedom purchase and the fabric wall art in the background is a Designers Guild fabric I had stretched over a frame many years ago.

The hall stand is something I painted a while ago in a lovely Porters Paints blue...it used to be a stained timber the same as the sideboard and I decided it needed a change :)

My latest DIY has been our coffee table...I'm not quite done but here's a sneek peek!!

Like the hall stand, it was previously stained but years of little ones using it as a drawing and craft surface had left it a little worse for wear!  I've stripped it, sanded it and used a Porters wood wash to give it a distressed 'coastal' look.

I started this project about three weeks ago (impulsively which is usual for me!!!) and I still need to do the drawers then I can show you it in its full glory :))

May take another three weeks for that to happen...........

Just doing this post has cheered me up...I know they're just 'things' but I'm a creative person and playing with these things brings me pleasure.

Grateful for gazing and glimpsing

On my Saturday morning pilgramage to meet Saint Mike and the KATs at the pool, I get to wander through some of the most gorgeous streets in Sydney....today I'm grateful for the glimpses I get to enjoy and the gazing that makes my walk one of the highlights of my week :))

I'll let the images speak for themselves in this post.....

this house is high on the hill and faces directly into the morning sun.........sublime!

I adore the detail of the architecture of this old beauty :)

some more majestic old architecture

how gorgeous is this ironwork!!!

takes almost an hour and then I get to gaze at this!

our home away from home

Thanks Bron for reminding me to be grateful....for more Grateful posts pop over the Maxabella Loves and make some friends :))

The Magic of Tim

Last Saturday morning our family were part of a truly magical experience.

We had the absolute joy of being photographed by Tim Coulson.  Here is a few of the magical images he captured forever................

This is only a sample....if you want to you can check out the rest here.

Tim is just about the nicest, sweetest, kindest bloke I've ever met (after Saint Mike of course).  He's having a baby soon and that baby is surely blessed to be scoring him as it's daddy!

What I love about these shots is that Tim captured the essence of us as a family.  It's a special thing and I love that we will be able to look back on these shots in the future and feel immersed in the time and place all over again :)

As you can see, we didn't get all gussied up for our shoot....I wanted it to be au naturale.  On reflection, that was possibly a strategic error on my part as I at least would have liked to have not looked so bulgy and post-exercisy!!  Everyone else looks fantastic but me.............hmmmmnnnn voice in the head has been having a field day.

Don't despair dear readers (and don't feel the need to say nice things about me!!!) as I've told 'the voice' to rack off as I look HAPPY and content and that is way more important than looking like a Stepford wife :))

I pondered getting Tim to shoot our family for months....I'm so glad I contacted him.  A stroke of brilliance for sure!!!

North Sydney pool was the location, it's been an important thread in the fabric of our family life since Oldest KAT was 18mths old...all our KAT's have learnt to swim in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge.  It is a place of history, character and ambience and our Saturday mornings there have been a constant during good times and bad over the last ten years.  A perfect place to capture the KATs!!

An eventful day

I'm about to juxtapose two incidents that could not be more different if I tried.......bear with me, it's worth it:)

Today was a special day for our oldest KAT. 

The Year 6 class were presented with their leadership badges at a special 'god bothering' ceremony (ie Mass for you non-Catholics out there).

Accompanying their 'buddies' in Kindy, the Year 6 class processed into the church to the tune of a lovely song "Welcome To The Family".  It has the makings of a tear-jerker if you're that way inclined when your little ones start school!

Oldest KAT was simply radiating happiness and the pride and sense of achievement that all the Year 6's possessed was palpable...it is definitely a big deal being the school leaders and having their moment up on the altar after all the years leading up to it where they were just observers.

Net result:  Happy child + proud parents (daddy even made the time to attend which is a HUGE ask given the pressure he's under at work) = a great morning :)

Fast forward to school pickup and I added to the 'eventfulness' quotient of the day by taking on a driver who propped at a T intersection at the bottom of the street near school.  She was attempting to turn right and enter the pickup line for the private school down and around the next corner....and was going nowhere fast whilst she held up a line of traffic who just wanted to get the hell out of there!

Instead of 'poking' her nose out to alert the other queue of cars that she wanted to get over (which is appropriate driving behaviour in the 'world' I inhabit) she just propped....

and propped.

AND.PROPPED.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd propped!!!!!

After over five minutes of this I decided enough was enough. 

I leaped purposefully out of my car, ran up to her window (she was two cars in front of me) and insisted that she 'ENTER.THE.INTERSECTION' and stop holding up the traffic.

I did not swear.
I did not use inappropriate language.
I did NOT shout (although my capitals above may suggest I actually wanted to!!!)
In short I did NOT abuse her (even though I reeeeaaallly wanted to!!!!)

I was simply assertive in a bossy, 'get your stupid car out of the way' fashion.....................................

She advised me that I was "rude" and there was no need to speak to her "that way".  I felt like telling her 'lady you should count yourself lucky'!!!!

Instead I turned and bolted back to my car, ignoring the look of shock on the faces of the other drivers (who may or may not have been parents at the school we attend!!!)

Anyhoo, by the time I had my seatbelt on she had made a move, so my little piece of assertiveness had done the trick :)

Did I feel mortified and ashamed of my behaviour?  NO!!!!! 
Did I get a giggle out of the fact that a mother at school who is one of those passive-aggressive types who acts nice but in fact loves to look down her nose at me witnessed the incident................YES!!!!

Ladies who feel the need to bitch about my behaviour...................Bite my roomy butt :)) 

Life is too short for useless drivers and I've got too much to do than wait around whilst they get their act together!

An eventful day indeed!  Are you with me or against me peeps??

the basics escape me

Most of the time I masquerade as a perfectly competent adult, parent, wife, friend/foe. 

Why then am I completely incapable of managing the basics in my house? 

Last night for the fifty billionth (okay slight exaggeration) Saint Mike had to make a run to the supermarket to pick up bread and milk.

How can I manage to go out multiple times a day and be either in or near a shop just as many times and yet fail to remember to stock up on these essentials???

I'd like to say this just makes me a 'big picture' person.......................but reality is that it just makes me a crap housewife!!! 

Truthfully, it's just the tip of the iceberg.  I am a serial offender at the 'leaving the house looking a shambles' including unmade beds, dishes not loaded into the dishwasher, clothes in piles on the floor.......I could go on.

Most of the time this doesn't bother me, but occasionally I get really pissed off at myself and want to give myself a big smack!

Today however, I can't be bothered doing that so instead I'll just blog about it :)

Is it only me that forgets the basics?

not overthinking things

The weekend of not overthinking things has been and gone.

I am a serial 'overthinker'.  I anguish, I obsess, I dwell.

This ability to use of copious amounts of perfectly good brain cells obsessing over whether I can do X (insert any number of activities that induce my imposter syndrome/fear of failure) is exhausting.  It drains me and I know it drive everyone around me NUTS (particularly Saint Mike).

I mentioned in January that I had a couple of major sporting challenges coming up - the SunRun (6.5km course from DeeWhy to Manly) and the Cole Classic Ocean Swim (1KM entrant).

Despite all my bravado in posts and in real life, as last week rolled around my fear of failure was in full flight.  I spent the entire week stressing and losing sleep over the 'what-ifs'....

What if I came last
What if I had an 'accident'
What if people thought I was too slow
What if I couldn't finish
What if I disappointed my trainer

I had fleeting thoughts of not showing up. 

I had actual mental images of getting dropped off by my support crew (SM and the KATs) and then just catching a bus down to Manly and pretending that I'd done it.

Fortunately, my trainer is actually interested in what's going on in my head and I am able to be honest with him about how I'm feeling.  He reminded me of how fit I was and how ready I was for this FUN run!  He also told me in no uncertain terms that I was overthinking things!!!!

He was right!  I was overthinking things....so I gave myself permission to STOP overthinking things and decided to just enjoy it.....and guess what?

I had a great time.
I didn't come last (not that it would have mattered)
I didn't have an accident
Lots of people passed me and it didn't bother me in the slightest!
My trainer and all the other trainers were incredibly supportive and positive about my achievement....

Did I say I had a great time?
I had an AWESOME time.  I felt invigorated.  I felt strong.  I was proud of myself and I was relaxed :)

My support crew were there to cheer me through the finish line and the next day they were there again when I swam in the 1K Cole Classic and did my best time in three attempts....unsurprising really as I'm heaps lighter and heaps fitter than the two other times I've attempted it. 

Truth be told I could have done the 2km but having had the SunRun on the Saturday I decided to be kind to myself and just swim in the 1K for the pleasure of it!  There's always next year to do the 2K and smash my best time :)

I'm going to try and keep NOT overthinking things....this morning I got up for my walk/jog and just went out and did it....last week I hid under the covers!!!

I'm actually sorry this weekend had to end...it was a pearler!!

dipped and stripped

Having successfully offloaded my children to either daycare or school this week I have done what any women with the means and inclination does with her free time................I booked in for a dip and strip.

A dip and what I hear you asking!

This is my description of what happens when you make a booking at your favourite 'Beautician' or Aesthetisist if you're Septic Tank (American).

I describe it thus as it feels thus when I am lying on the table in my not-quite nana knickers and over the shoulder boulder holder brassiere and the lovely lass proceeds to dip her little paddle pop stick into the wax goop before slathering it all over my ample calves and then ripping it off with all the enthusiasm she can muster!!!!!

This is either before or sometimes after she has applied the same focus and attention to my poor unsuspecting eyebrows and even worse my bikini line!

The only reason my bikini line got a look in by the way is because I have the Cole Classic this Sunday and I have to spend an inordinate amount of time milling around in my speedos without even a towel to cover my modesty (or more truthfully my cellulite). 

Unlike Samantha Jones (Sex & The City) who could be on "death row and not have that 'situation' I dip and strip that portion of my body as rarely as possible!!!!

Anyway, back to the big picture.......................

How is it that we can be in the most excuciatingly embarrassing positions (think about it ladies who have had bikini waxes!!!) and still manage to explore all the usual conversation topics without blinking an eye-lid (actually I couldn't have done that literally as they were being tinted at the same time)??

The great thing about the month of February apart from the obvious (kids back at school) is that I can dip and strip to my hearts content as I'm using one of my prizes from the Weight Loss Challenge :)

Now.............if only I was hairier I'd get more value out of this prize.  Unfortunately, my body hair is the proverbial tortoise and I usually go MONTHS between dips and strips.

I may have to reconsider my position on Brazilians perhaps!!!!!

Are you familiar with the discomforts of the dip and strip?  How often do you bare your hair??