It’s Sunday NO #AtoZ let’s talk about… ANZAC day!

Today is Sunday 25th April. In Australia it’s ANZAC day, where we pay our respect to those fallen in defence of our country. I use that day to remember all the loved ones that have passed. I don’t need a day to remember my Dad l do that every day, by remembering something silly or a book quote or a look on one of my Sons faces that reminds me of Dad, the way both my sons and one Grandson carry his name as their middle names. ANZAC day is not necessarily a day l remember my Dad until… the last post! It always makes me cry. They played that at my Dads funeral the worst day to date of my life.

ANZAC‘ stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On the 25th of April 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. These became known as Anzacs and the pride they took in that name continues to this day. https://www.army.gov.au › traditions

This is my Dad he was a proud Aussie Soldier.

He was only young when we signed up to go to war, his older brother and his Dad went so he lied about his age. In the end his parents signed the paperwork rather than risk him sneaking off.

Dad never spoke much about the war l guess who can blame him, from all accounts in books and movies l’ve read and seen it wasn’t a nice time in his life. So lm extra thankful he came home when so many young Aussie diggers did not!

In military tradition, the Last Post is the bugle call that signifies the end of the day’s activities. It is also sounded at military funerals to indicate that the soldier has gone to his final rest and at commemorative services such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day. https://www.army.gov.au › traditions

The Last Post- https://youtu.be/B1Blw_hbp1o

Lee Kernaghan- https://youtu.be/rj1M0-6NeH8

This day is almost over and this challenge is coming to its end to, the remaining letters are going to prove tricky to tie in with my “Family” theme but l’ve so enjoyed April this year! Have a great Sunday wherever you are!

Arty stuff

Today is day 18 of #the100dayproject.

I’ve been pretty slack with my art this year, so l decided to go for the challenge and l made it fairly loose, “create something for 100 days” but l know me and l know l’d go to the studio and sit there and think “What shall l make?” Which would probably lead to me making nothing and so l sat down and broke the challenge into 10’s.

I called them “Weeks” until l realised there are NOT in fact 10 days in a week… not one of my brighter moments!

Then out of the 10 NOT weeks l chose subjects like “Chakra and Yoga Symbols” there are seven chakras so l added three yoga paintings as well. That was my first “Not a week” series.

This “Not a week” series is “Collages” so l went a step further and broke it down into five subjects and l’ll make two of each. So last night l made “multi coloured collage” that was the second one today l made one of “Stamped images”

Multi coloured Collages

Stamped images collage

I am going to use both of these pieces in an upcoming “Not a week” series.

This was the collage that started it all off! My daughter got the idea on Facebook and we ran with it! It looks great framed on the side dresser.

And last night while l was thinking about “What shall l create?!” I made a video of my art studio..

So l can honestly say l am enjoying #The100daychallenge its getting me back into my studio and keeping my mind active!!

September 3- Waiting….

Waiting.

All my life I waiting- for,

what it is I am not sure.

Every day I feel as though

there’s something more, what- I do not know.

Waiting for Winter to end,

so then comes spring and again

waiting for summer and warm sunshine

while waiting on autumn for colourful times.

Waiting for something to be finished cooking,

spending my time for recipes looking.

Waiting for the washing cycle to end,

so I can hang out a load and start again.

Waiting for inspiration for some art,

waiting on knowing where to start.

what supplies to use today?

Just let loose and have a play!

Seems to me I spend my life,

waiting for something, Oh! I’m a wife!

I guess thats what my job description is-

Maybe I should have stayed a Ms!

#poetember

#sketchaton I’ve always wanted to have a try at painting on one these four season paintings. Clearly I needed more practise lol

And then we have #29facesonjunk todays Coffee Bloke! Is on a recycled coffee box. I am amazed at him! I rarely do men, they’re hard! Not telling you women anything new there! But sometimes I just hold the pencil and go along for the ride, and look what fell out of my pencil today!

I was like “Whaaat?!”

He’s good for me! Clearly he’s not technically perfect but it’s not about perfection for me, its about setting a goal and smashing that goal outta the park! And as one art teacher told us “If you want perfection, take a photo!”

I am SO happy with this guy, no idea who he is I found him on Pinterest!

September 2nd- Violet!

Violet.-

An old fashioned name, and also a colour.

Violet as in the flower with the heady scent.

When she was much younger, she spent

6 months living in a tent-

Travelling around the Australian outback

With only the clothes that would fit her in pack!

Violet was one of ten children.

Her Father in the army, her Mother a civilian.

She knew she was different- did our gal Violet

She has always wanted to be a pilot!

Her head was always in the clouds,

She preferred solitude, not crowds!

She whistled at birds, and talked to the dog

She carried around critters and had a pet frog!

Some say she was crazy, and it might be so-

But everyone smiled as she passed to and fro.

A lovelier lady you never did meet.

She lived on the corner of my street.

Violet, an old fashioned name and also a colour.

One of a kind, there will never be another

#poetember #kickinthecreatives

#sketchathon #kickinthecreatives #blogfest

2 of #29Faces

Day two of all my September challenges is complete!

Two pieces today!

I forgot to tell you in yesterdays post about the newest challenge I am doing. I find when I schedule myself to do something I tend to get them done. So each day in my journal is a check list of things I want to get done at the moment it looks like this….

1. Bible study 15 minutes (with a little box that I can tick off as its done)
2. Drawing- 15 minutes
3. Water- 3 x 800mls= 2.4 litres
4. 10,000 steps
5. Shedding the weight Meditation
6. Read at least one chapter of current book.

So it seems silly to some people but for me if I don’t hold myself accountable I will put these things aside, and so what if I don’t read a chapter of my book? Well, I won’t finish it and then I wont hit my end of the year reading goal “Read 40 Books”

Its been said that if you do a thing for 21 days it forms a new habit, so by scheduling these things and ticking them off I am helping myself create new habits. I am so bad at drinking water, so that is an important one. I also track this on my Fitbit app! Shedding the weight meditation I am doing with Oprah and Deepak Chopra, its to help us change our thinking and to shed the weight by shedding thoughts and feelings that are negative and I am enjoying it, but by the time I have time to sit down and do the meditations, sometimes I am sleepy and cant be bothered, but then I don’t want to look at this list before bed and see that I haven’t checked it off! So I force myself to do it, it ends Sunday and I’ve only missed one day which I did the next day anyways! And the drawing reminder, well, research shows that if you do something for as little as 15 minutes a day you improve at that thing, and who doesn’t want to improve their drawing skills? Bible study is pretty self explanatory as well. I do an in home bible study afternoon each Wednesday but if I don’t do any for the other six days its a bit pointless.

So this week I found a new challenge, my Bloke says “She loves a good challenge” its called the “100 days project” and the goal is to chose anything at all, to do for 💯 days and take a photo and post it on Instagram with the hash tag #100daysproject I figured that while I am doing this art course and posting that online I might as well make it a little bit more exciting by making it a challenge!

Speaking of art… today I finished two pieces, both of which I don’t actually love, but I didn’t avoid them, or put them off, or worse still skip them! I did them and I am moving on!

Lesson 13- Teacher- Toni Burt, Subject- Berthe Morisot. It was a collage piece and I felt like I had gone back to preschool, having said that her face turned out really well and I loved that! I called her “Alice the music teacher” because I used sheet music for her dress and hat and the song was something about April!

Work in progress.. I am super happy with her face which was a limited colour palette in pastels.

I lost momentum with her dress and so just gave up.. isn’t that just what some of the impressionists did?!

Then lesson 14- Teacher- Jun Toyama, Subject- Nicolai Fechin. We used charcoal, I don’t actually mind charcoal its messy but its also nice because you cant be too fussy. We were supposed to use a live model, I didn’t and Im not sharing the photo of who it was supposed to be, it’s disappointing maybe I’ll redo it sometime!

I still need A LOT of practise with my angles! But like everything, practise will help me improve!

So thats me for this Thursday! This also means that I am now officially up to date with “Lets Face it” next lesson gets released on Monday, so that means, Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will work on “Soul brush sessions” and “Better drawing bootcamp” both of which are course run by Carrie on her website Artist Strong 💪 both of these course are run Free, so maybe you want to have a look!

I almost forgot to tell you about another challenge on Facebook, its an art group called “Weekend Challenges” each weekend we are given a photo and we have to recreate it as close as we can, or alternatively anyway we want. I’ll probably give that a go tomorrow, watch this space…..

Happy New Year!!

Here we are at the start of another year.

I have been taking a break from blogging and journaling since I got back from our Big Lap.

So many things have been happening, I just didn’t have time or energy to blog and even my poor journal has fallen by the way side.

So here is a quick update….

We got back in November and hit the ground running…

November 21st Sweetpea turned two and we had an afternoon tea, in the meantime we started cleaning the back deck which needed cleaning and finished the garden boxes which have been nick named “garden coffins” they are that shape.. we planted them with Daphne, a tomato plant, a gardenia and an Australian native I am still to get a rose for the other Grand daughter.

We had Wedding rehearsal on the Wednesday which was the 25th and had a final look at the space where we would be setting up the reception etc. I also got my eye brows waxed and tinted and my nails done, a little bit of spoiling after roughing it in tents for two months.

Sunday 29th November 2015.

Still cant quiet believe I haven’t written about this yet, I am guessing after my Grand babies births this was so far the greatest highlight of my life. My first born got married. We still don’t have the wedding photos back yet but I’ll share a few of the ones I do have.

The Bridal party,

Left to right… Stewie, Bride-Jasmin, Groom- Brett and Ella.

My new Son-in-law Brett and my beautiful girl.

 

“Aunty Jazzy” and flower girl “Sweetpea”

I’m not sure what she was doing here but I love that face!!

 

Mother and Son dance.

 

Page Boy, and Son of the happy couple
“Squishy”

 

This is my cousin and her family and my first ever photo bomb, taken by the photographer!!

 

Escorting my girl down the aisle.

This is going to be a wall shot!! taken by our photographer Gabbie Hine.

I escorted her down the aisle and I don’t know how many people I had telling me what a blubbering mess I would be.. I shocked them all and even myself when I didn’t cry, not even during my speech which actually made a few people laugh! I made it through, my goal for the night was to do my speech without A- crying and B- inserting umm or errr in too many places In fact I didn’t stumble at all! I was so proud of myself and then my Brother Bill made me cry before the night was out but that wasn’t about the wedding so it’s not counting!!

After the Wedding we had Squishy’s 2nd birthday party and then fast came upon us Christmas.

Christmas…. hmm, if you were reading my posts in 2014 you might have read that I do not like Chrtistmas, I don’t like the commercialism of it all.. you stress and worry and within minutes it’s all over and the day goes on. But this year I decided to embrace the festive season and even suggested we have lunch at home… *sigh* sometimes I’m such a fool and this highlights it all.. Next year (or this one anyways!) I’m not having Christmas in fact plans are being made to go away for a month to Tasmania camping.

We decided to have lunch at our house, so the Bloke cooked a turkey our first ever and roast pork. My cousin and her family came and brought chickens and potato salads. We also had hot vegetables and roasted potatoes and pumpkin and gravy, and then the weather heated up to 39C and we all baked along with the food!! There was a wild fire about 1.5 kilometres away and e sat on the back deck, fighting away flies and fanning away the smoke.

The turkey and roast Pork were a huge success and we were happy with how they turned out, but the rest of it I didn’t enjoy! I find that you rush around waiting on everyone and making sure the house is clean and the presents are wrapped and then the whole day is over and you rush around doing the dishes and the floors and getting rid of a mountain of wrapping paper. I “tried” to embrace it and failed I don’t enjoy it, I’m not doing it again!!

As soon as all that was over we took off to Bel Far Niente for a few days to unwind from all that madness… which lead us to New Year EVE!

This year we went camping with some good friends to Ballarat. We have been to Ballarat a gazillion times and so I wasn’t terribly excited to go camping there, but it just goes to show be careful of judging, because we had a great time. The caravan park we stayed in “Goldmine” had a great solar heated pool which we gladly spent a lot of time in and out of. The bathrooms were clean and well cared for, there was a camp kitchen and  plenty for the kids to do, so My Bestie and I were able to sit and crochet and chatter or read our books or just lounge around, it was HOT!! We stayed there until Sunday 3rd January.

So that brings us up to now and New Years Resolutions.. I make them each year I kind of look at them as “goals” and I check back on them often. So this year I made three.. easy ones…

1. Gain my diploma in Biblical studies. (I need to do 144 units, so far I’ve finished 3)
2. Become a vegetarian ( we had raw roast lamb on 1st Jan 2016- normally I don’t mind it a little bit rare but this was too much blood and it made me feel quite ill, and then I got this thought it my head a snippet of some bible verse about God being the lamb and the blood of the lamb.. and that was enough for me.. I quit meat on the spot!)
3. Read 50 books for the year.

In 2015- I did a challenge with Reannon and Pip Lincoln  to “Read Australian Authors” and I did and I loved it I only read three non Aussie books all year, but I found I have a huge pile left still of Australian authors so I am continuing that on again this year. So I’ve made a Good reads Goal to read 50 books… here is what last year looked like.. 2015 in books

Anyways so that brings us up to date and hopefully I’ll be back into regular blogging to keep you up to date with whats new for 2016…

 

NaBloPoMo.. February “make” Days 17 and 18…

I’ve been stupidly busy this month.. really, and yet some days I feel like I’ve got nothing done and some days I didn’t even my blog.. to anyone who reads regularly I apologize, but you know sometimes life happens and I am actually out of the house long enough that nothing inside the house gets done… I used to be organised!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015
What do you think of the idea “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Do you think it’s always possible to make something bad into something good?

I never used to prescribe to this way of thinking and I was walking around going “Woe is me” and then I realized what a “victim” I was becoming.. a very wise Councillor told me that if you look at everything that happens to you as a “lesson” you can usually pick out what you’ve learnt from the “mistake” or “bad thing” that happened to you. How right she was… I went as far back at 1999 and re-evaluated steps I’d made which lead to my divorce and how I had grown by making those steps, be they hard, uncomfortable or just ugly. I always learnt something either about others or myself. Which meant that the “rose colored glasses” I swanned through life wearing, were ripped off cruelly, Which meant that I grew into what I am now. I read a quote the other day saying something like “Don’t be too harsh on me, God’s not finished with me yet” and I feel like that’s my lesson, stop beating myself up I am still alive, I am healthy and I am still growing, I am not making the same mistakes over and over so I MUST be learning.. sometimes you have to rip off the band-aid to let the fresh air in and help you heal, yeah, it hurts for a while but you move onward and upwards, so yes, When I get lemons I make lemonade maybe with a little extra added sugar!!

 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015
What do you do to try to make other people happy? What do you do to try to make yourself happy?

The short answer to this is “too much” and in regards to making myself happy “not enough”

I am a people pleaser… it’s not always a good trait, because sometimes it can be translated as “Doormat” and you get walked all over. There’s a line, and sometimes you have to give yourself permission to say “NO” not in a mean way but in a firm way say “Sorry no!” Great advice, I’ve read it in a million “self help” books  rarely do it.

Especially when it comes to my children, but then I had Grandchildren and realized that I have to stop being a “people pleaser” and be real.. I baby sit for the girls one night a month, they get a “Night off” they are young, 24 and 22 and still in the partying mode when they can. But even as I write this I think to myself “that is nice, but when is MY night off?” I never get a night off. Most times it doesn’t worry me, because I escape to my room and work in my journal or my bible studies, but every so often I long for a night away from “Children” whether they are the 13 yr old, the grown up children or the grand children, a night off to speak about grown up things with grown up people which doesn’t involve being interrupted by someone who thinks they NEED you right now!

So I took matters into my own hands and on Mondays I go out of the house and I go to a “Life art Class” I’ve been two weeks now, and it’s amazing how fast that two hours slips by, and it’s amazing how quiet, peaceful and relaxed the atmosphere is. Almost as soon as I stand at the easel I can feel my shoulders start to relax and my mind goes blank and I am in a little bubble of seeing and drawing and getting filthy with charcoal and I realize I am in BLISS… there’s really no other word for it but BLISS… It’s like a shock when our teacher Sean tells us “that’s it ladies and gentlemen, see you next week” it’s a let down with a thump!

bliss (blĭs) n.

1. Extreme happiness; ecstasy.

2. The ecstasy of salvation; spiritual joy.

Phrasal Verb: bliss out Slang.. To go into a state of ecstasy.

YES!! See I did choose the right word.. its my spiritual joy to do this art class…it’s my freedom from the house, it’s my freedom from children and I am MISSING it so much having so much hands on contact with my grandbabies is great but I really miss Me time which equals Art time!

 

NaBloPoMo.. February day 4- Favourite Dinner.. recipe included.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015
What is your favourite thing to make for dinner?

Living in a house as I do with an eclectic family.. meal times can sometimes be a war ground. We have always tried to make it the meal where everyone sits down together and discusses their day and it’s our “coming together time” When all the kids were little this was possible because “We were the boss!” so they ate what we said and they didn’t complain, well, yes they did but they were children and so they ate it anyways. One son, he hated tomato and whenever he ate it we were suspicious.. well it turns out all these years later that the DOG under the table ate the tomato.. of course “Blue Dog” would eat anything so that made sense.

Another child, also a boy child always needed to go to the bathroom during dinner… then I find out that he was flushing the bits he didn’t like down the Loo after securing them in his serviette… and I never noticed!

One girl child hated vegetables of all sorts but she would stay there and until she finished them rather than argue.. it’s a different matter now though, and is it funny how HER 14 month old girl child adores vegetables and will always choose to eat them first before the rest! It skipped a generation obviously!

So back then cooking dinner was easier we had a weekly plan and each night on a given night we would have certain things.. Monday Steak, Tuesday pasta etc ect.. but then Mumma Bear got bored and was tired of feeding prescribed meals each week, so I shuffled it up. Then I got the idea to ask the Children “What meal would YOU like this week?” five children, five meals plus one each for the Bloke and I.. perfect.. it worked for a while, then they started moving out, moving back in, switching rooms, switching houses and who knew when who was going to be home, some worked late and so I had to cook meals that could be re-heated easily.

Then it came to shopping time and they were not home to help plan so I just started doing the menu each week and shopping for that and then the complaints started, “I don’t like that, this or the other”  my reply was “bad luck eat it or go hungry!”

I have found one meal out of all the years ONE MEAL that is sure to garnish applause and cheers and self invitations for dinner when it’s announced.. my famous meatloaf!

Meat loaf, good old fashioned meat loaf. A time or two we have changed the recipe and no one has approved so we go back to the old fashioned recipe which was first put out by The Australian Women’s weekly magazine when I was about 10 years old I remember my sister getting her box of recipe cards and she cooked meatloaf and everyone loved it then, so I asked for the recipe and eventually I got the box of recipe cards too, but I only ever loved the Meatloaf the best!

So now I’m going to share with you.. my famous meatloaf recipe.. the children ask “How come your meat loaf tastes so good Mum?” and I always replied “Because it’s made with love!” I love to see them eat and if meatloaf is what it takes then I’m a happy Mumma!

 

Meatloaf with Barbecue Sauce

http://www.aww.com.au/food/recipes/2003/9/meatloaf-with-barbecue-sauce/

8

Serves 4

Cuisine type: Traditional
Cooking time: More than 1 hour
Course: Main
Cooking method: bake
Season: All year round

INGREDIENTS

500g sausage mince
500g minced steak
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 onions
2 teaspoons curry powder
salt, pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup water

Sauce:
½ cup water
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
30g butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice

METHOD

Combine sausage mince, minced steak, breadcrumbs, peeled and finely-chopped onions, curry powder, salt, pepper, parslety and lightly-beaten egg in bowl. Beat until mixture is well combined. Gradually add milk and water, continue beating until mixture is very smooth.

Shape meat mixture into loaf, place in greased baking dish. Bake in moderate oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven, carefully pour off any surplus fat. Pour sauce over meatloaf, return to oven, bake for further 45 minutes, basting frequently with sauce, serve hot with vegetables or cold with salad.

Sauce

Combine all ingredients in saucepan, bring slowly to boil, reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes.

I serve this delicious meatloaf with creamy mashed potatoes and to sneak in some extra veggies I put pumpkin and potatoes together and mash them, and serve them with steamed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower… this meal is the only one that the Children will eat all the vegetables as well. If you try it I hope you love it as much as we do.. let me know in the comments section below!

NaBloPoMo.. catch up… day 27

Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Tell us about your morning routine. What is one thing you want to change?

my morning routine consists of waking up between 6.40 and 6.50 am, once my eyes can focus I start my bible studies… at the moment we are doing Exodus and so I read that and then use the S.O.A.K method… (stands for S-Scripture, O-Observation, A-Application and K-Kneel in prayer.) Thats get written in a small ring binder. Then we use a colour chart to colour in the chapter, so my bible is getting very colourful and at the start I found it to be “time-consuming” but now I am enjoying it because my word for 2015 is “Deeper” and with this method you really have to pay attention to whats written there and use different colours for different things.

What is one thing I would like to change? Maybe to have a bit more time to soak deeper.. but I get my studies done and then I have to get the rest of the household into their morning routines.

NaBloPoMo.. January.. Habit…

Monday, January 26, 2015
Do you feel chained or released by your habits?

Some of my “habits” I feel safe in doing..I feel like when they are done “my way” they are done properly..you know the more I write this blog and answer these questions I am starting to wonder if maybe I do have OCD!

When I hang the washing on the clothes line, I like them hung a certain way, so when one of the girls hangs them out and does them differently.. I cringe but I DO NOT change them..but I cringe at how they will dry with wrinkles or whatever!

So no I don’t think I feel chained at all.