Appy and Free

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A couple of months ago I decided that I needed to start tracking my food intake, to gain back some control, where control had apparently been slipping.  I felt like I just couldn't be tied to a piece of paper again, like I was back in the 90's when I was using Weight Watchers.  You know, back before computers and the internet?  So went looking for an app.  Because now we have computers and interwebbings and smart phones and all the fancy things.

There's an app for everything these days, isn't there?!

The app I ended up choosing is from Calorie King.  Their "Control My Weight" app is a freebie, and I have to say I am incredibly impressed.  Input to the food diary is so easy!  And because it's on my phone, it's always close by and handy.  The app has an extensive inbuilt list of Aussie foods and brands, so I can almost always find exactly what I'm looking for.  Also, you can save meals as a whole recipe, copy from previous days and search by meals, as well as individual ingredients. There are also features to track your water intake and exercise and easy peasy weight check-ins.  It literally takes me a total of about two minutes over a whole day to put everything in there.  In the morning I can put in my breaky, lunch and snacks, so I can see what's left for dinner and whether I have wiggle room for treats.  Or not.

All of that easy-to-use app-i-ness, and it's really helped me see how far off track I'd gotten.  Man oh man my track was very far away from where it should have been.

If you're an Apple kinda person and you want a food tracking app that works seamlessly, give this one a try.  For free! Yay!  If you're an android user, I'm sorry, I've got nothin' for you.  Apple for the win!


Disclosure:  I have not partnered with Calorie King or been approached by them for my endorsement (they don't even know I exist, I'm sure).  I'm just sharing something I use and love and find helpful in my quest for being healthier.

Thinking outside the box...

Have you ever had a problem, that called for some creative problem-solving?  I found myself in this exact position this week.

For the last eight, or so, years I've been wrangling two bags back and forth from school every day.  One for my laptop and folders and papers, and one for my lunch, charging cables, handbag, and all the things that didn't fit in my laptop bag.  This weekend I decided there must surely be a more efficient way to cart my stuff back and forth so Miss Mischief and I set off to find the perfect teacher bag.  Because it seems that teachers have some pretty specific needs when it comes to a bag.

I lifted this bag down from a shelf, thinking that it looked like a pretty good size and shape, and it had plenty of pockets around the outside.  Guess what little surprise I discovered?  This perfect bag is actually a nappy bag.  Yes, you read that right!  A nappy bag.  It has a ton of pockets inside as well and, as it turns out, fits absolutely everything except my lunch bag.

I love, love, love this bag with it's floral lining, waterproof exterior and the ton of pockets both inside and out.

It didn't phase me one little bit, buying a nappy bag, because I just needed a bag that suited my work needs.  The older shop assistant seemed to think it odd to consider a nappy bag as a work bag.  The younger shop assistant said "oh yes, I use that exact bag for work too".

When I told my class about my shopping adventure they thought it was hilarious that my bag is a nappy bag.  Except now it's not.  I'll give the change mat to a colleague and then it's just a bag, with a pretty lining.

Got an 'outside the box' problem-solving story?  I'd love to hear it!

Happy Heart of the Tropical Kind

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This made my heart so happy, this morning.

I am too scared to eat guavas here, in Australia, because I know I'll be disappointed.  Topical fruit just always is.  But I found this in Aldi yesterday when I was puddling around the spots where the 'limited time' products are found.

Welcome back, childhood.
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Favourite Things - New Realisation

I am a 'hills' kind of girl.  Cool, fresh mountain air.  Chilly winters, enveloped in still, fog in the mornings.  Roaring fires.  That's my kind of deal.  I adore where I live, and my little town is about the best place I can imagine living.

And then there's the beach.

I grew up less than a handful of kilometres from the beach, in a little tropical paradise.  We swam almost every day, not because it was idyllic, but because we needed to cool off.  It was sticky and hot and we had no air conditioning back those days.  Listening to the ocean roar at night was my favourite sound, after tropical rain thundering on our uninsulated tin roof.

Last week I mentioned that we'd been away with old friends, and we always camp near the beach in a  foreshore caravan park.  It is way more upmarket than the foreshore caravan parks I remember when I was small!  After about 10-12 years of avoiding the beach there, I finally ventured out.  Miss Mischief and I walked to the front of the caravan park, because I just wanted to see the water.  When we discovered the tide was out I was easily convinced to walk back to our caravan along the shoreline.

What I remembered was that I love walking on wet sand when the tide is a long way out.  It's easy to walk on, and it is just so relaxing.  We slipped off our thongs and enjoyed wet sand and water between our toes.  And I said "I wish I'd done this yesterday", about 10 times.

I wouldn't swap where I live for all the tea in China, but I was reminded of how much I love to walk on the beach.  We'll be near the beach again in a few weeks, and this is what I'm looking forward to.  Long walks along the beach on wet sand when the tide is out.

What's your favourite place to be?  Beach, hills, or somewhere in between, like the suburbs?

A Gel Polish Update

I was at work unreasonably early yesterday morning.  Mr Busy's class (well, 6 out of the 8...yes, you read that right, he is in a class of 8!) attended a Melbourne Prayer Breakfast event.  At least one of us was well rewarded for being at school before 6am.  Look at that breakfast!  Meanwhile, I was hungry by 9am, because no one should be eating breakfast at 5am.  No one!

While I was sitting at my desk in the small, dark hours of the morn, with eyes still bleary, I snapped a pic of this week's gel nail polish, from Aldi.  This is the taupe, which I didn't mind at all.  It's less sheer than the pink from Rimmel, but it was nice and neutral, and didn't say "Hi, look at my nails".  The photo above was taken on Day 7, and it was still looking magnificent.  I could have pushed it a few more days, but I did noticed some edges were starting to lift.  Not chip - no chipping!  But a few edges looked less secure.  When I went to remove the polish last night I tried to chip it off.  No dice.  The little corner that lifted was the only bit that came away.

My review for two-step gel nail polish?  It is ideal for the non-nail polish wearers of the world, like me.  It lasts at least a week and it is so smooth.  I had none of the feelings about this nail polish, that I normally have with regular polish.  The Aldi version was equally as good as the Rimmel London brand I used first, and the Aldi one only cost $10.  If you can still get it!

Perhaps a Game Changer...and other new loves

Despite being a very girly kind of girl, I've never really been into make-up and nail polish.  Perhaps it has to do with growing up in the tropics, where make-up would melt off.  Perhaps it was the fact that in a third world country these items were hard to come by.  Perhaps it is that my mother is not really into these things either.  Whatever the reason, this part of being a girl kind of bypassed me.

The other day I had a strange hankering for nail polish - a rare thing indeed.  So I pestered Miss Sunshine to see if she had any really pale pink stuff.  Because that's about all I could possibly handle. The only thing she had was a two-step gel thing, but the right colour so I went with it.

One of the things I don't love about nail polish is that within two days it is chipped and driving me nuts.  I don't like the feel of it when I'm using my hands (you know, all the time), and stuff touches the top of my nails.  It's just all been icky.  This gel stuff is completely different!  The photo above is three days in.  It hasn't budged.  Not a bit.  And it actually feels really nice on my nails.

Miss Sunshine happened to have Rimmel London polish.  This week I bought a two-step gel in pale taupe from Aldi.  For $10 I figured it was worth a shot...otherwise I'll go back to the Rimmel.

Other things I'm loving:

• This rhubarb crumble recipe (for the rhubarb) from Maggie Beer, with this crumble topping from Shauna Niequist.  I omitted the pecans and added coconut to the topping.
• New blog at "The Daily Connoisseur"
• Discovering Aldi jam is made just up the road from where I live, from fruit grown in Australia.
• "This is Us" began last week, and "Fixer Upper" starts this week.
• Most importantly....feeling like I was winning at my job yesterday, even though we had a mucky, messy afternoon with kids going in all directions.  

What are you loving today?

We are what we repeatedly do

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The last sentence of this quote has been stuck in my head.  We are what we repeatedly do.  I don't know about you, but I have a few things around the edges of my life that I'd like to change.  To do better.  To be better.  Not in a "change who you are" kind of way, but there are always things that we aren't doing so great at that need some attention.

I know you know what I mean.  I can't be the only one.

I posted, last week, about tackling my fear problem.  Even now I want to say lesser words, like stress, anxiety and concern.  But I know it really is all just fear.  Or not so much "just"!  I am praying my way through and claiming Truth over those feelings and I'm doing better.  Sleeping better.  On Sunday I made a very long list of all the things I had to get done at work by the end of today.  Most of it has been crossed off, and I'll tackle some more this morning.  Because I made the list on paper I've been less fearful of forgetting things, and then being more relaxed.  Repeatedly praying through my fear is making me less fearful.  It's working!

My next thing?  My health.  I just need to make, and act, on better choices.  My blood tests all told me I am in good shape, but the outside shell tells a different story about my relationship with food.  So, I am working on being more mindful, deciding on what I want that outside shell to be like, and then acting towards that.  Small steps.

What do you want to be, that seems like a struggle right now?  Let's be people that act excellent, in order to see the results that come from habits rather than willpower!

Meet Our Newest Family Member

No, no.  Not new 'people' family members.  Nor pets.  With adults and near adult children I am done with the people variety of new family members, and I am absolutely not a pet person.  Ask anyone who knows me in real life (although Frances' Travis is mighty cute, even to me!)

Miss Sunshine is the very excited, and proud new owner of a Mazda 3.  It is one of the few things that has her keen to be driving again, after Chelsea's untimely demise.  This has been her dream car for a quite a while now, and I'm not really sure why a 20yo gets to have her dream car already.  I had to wait 'til I was 44!  But this car fit the desire and the budget I had set for Miss Sunshine (read: I wasn't willing to hand over any more than the set budget!).  A budget she agreed to, by the way, because she will need to repay it.

So meet Luna.

She is officially metallic blue, but looks a bit purple in the right sunshine.  Luna is now trying to figure out where she belongs in the driveway real estate pecking order and we're back to shuffling cars again.  Someone is going to need to move out before Mr Busy gets are car in a couple of years (less if he had his way 🙄).

Meanwhile, last night I took Miss Sunshine to drive on the dirt road that caused all the kerfuffle in the first place.  It was not without some high, but controlled, emotion, but it was an uneventful drive and all ended safely back home again.  All that is left now is prayer for healing her mind of the fear.

Fresh Eyes

I began the summer holidays with some stitching, and discovered I couldn't see that well.  Again.  The last time I got my lens prescription updated, stitching was the instigator!  Yesterday I went and picked up my new specs - two for the price of one, thank you very much Spec Savers.

The black will stay at home, the pink will go everywhere else I go.  I have had two sets before and found it very helpful in preventing those forgetful moments, where I neglect to take my glasses with me.  I cannot tell you how often I phone Mr Busy at about 7.30am with a "Can you please find *xyz* and bring it to school with you?" phone call.  He makes an excellent courier, by the way.  His bus arrives at school right as we finish staff devotions so we connect on his way to his classroom and I am reunited with whatever it is I've phoned him to bring.

Glasses and computer cords top the list of things I forget. Once it was earrings.  He thought that was a tad weird, but the girls helped out with that one.

I can now read small print, thread a needle and get that needle in the right spot.  It's meant losing a little distance vision while I'm wearing the glasses - but I can peer over the top to get that!  I cannot tell you how much I leave seeing clearly!!!

New (to me) Kitchen Toy

I have drooled over microplane graters and baulked at the cost for many, many...many years.  Since Dh was struggling for something buy me for Christmas I suggested this.  And because I had him in House before Christmas, I even pointed them out, and the difference between the two prices.

Unlike me, Dh bought the more expensive one (the one I liked better, and wouldn't have bought for myself), and I used it yesterday afternoon when I was making lemon curd with those pesky four egg yolks left from making pavlova.

The microplane grater?  A true revelation!  It is so smooth and easy to use, compared to every zester I have ever had (the very cheap versions of a zester!).  I find myself trying to come up with ways to zest something, or mince garlic or ginger.  It's like the difference between driving a vintage VW Bug and driving a Rolls Royce.  Not that I've ever driven either, but I imagine the Bug is rough and clunky and the Rolls Royce would be smooth and delightful.  This is now my zesting experience.  Smooth and delightful.

Now...to get my Kitchen Aide mixer repaired.  The on/off/speed knob is stuck on 1 and can't be turned off, except at the wall switch.

Family Christmas Gathering

 

Some of the selections offered

We had our Christmas gathering with Dh's side of the family yesterday.  This year we simplified and pared things way down.  After swapping gift certificates last year, we opted for putting our gift budgets towards lunch.  Yum Cha is the only way this family could possibly go, in order to avoid the massive amounts of work required to feed and clean up after 20-ish people.

The "children", most of whom are now adults, sat at one table and ate like kings and queens.  These children are far too well educated in the ways of international food, particularly when Malaysians number within the clan.  Mr Busy sat next to one of his cousin's wives.  She ensured he was well fed. The kids complained they were being banished, but really I think they had way more fun.  They are a hilarious bunch when all together.

Chinese custard tarts are usually the sought-after dessert following Yum Cha.  My preference is this mango mousse.  Lighter.  Refreshing.  Cool.  In all honesty, however, yesterday I indulged in both.

A New Holiday Hobby

I have discovered a new hobby to add to the ways I enjoy relaxing.

Jigsaw Puzzling.

There is something so productive and satisfying about putting pieces together, one by one, to create a picture.  There is nothing rushed or hurried, and the puzzle doesn't mind a bit if you end up letting it sit a day or two in between working on it.  There are no deadlines or pressure to work hard or fast or with frantic desperation.  As I discovered, when I sprained my hand a few weeks back, you can do this one handed and feel like there is one small thing that is normal in your world.

I generally get my puzzles from the local Op Shop for no more than $2.  Cheapest entertainment ever.  Inevitably there is a piece or two missing, but I find that oddly part of the charm.  Finding out which piece is missing is part of the puzzle.

This week I have been going between my jigsaw puzzle and completing some PD hours so I could renew my teaching registration.  I have discovered the best puzzles are the ones where there is a lot of detail that is different and unique.  Puzzles with lots of sky are hard.  Puzzles with lots of uniform detail are hard (think lots of lizards with similar patterns, or repeated terracotta pots.  I don't like hard and frustrating.  I like to feel productive and successful!

And I can talk to whichever family member happens to stop by for a chat without feeling like I need to stop, or like I am being taken completely out of what I am doing.

Win-win.

Sunshiny Spring Sunday

I wonder what your family does when the Spring sunshine begins to show itself and warm the Earth up a little?  We're getting a little of that now that winter is officially over.  I say "officially" because the weather can't really decide if that's true.  Yesterday was one of those early-spring warm sunshiny days that you long for all winter long, so we spent the afternoon down at Sorrento.

It's a long drive from here and we had to convince Miss Sunshine that she'd rather be with us than shopping on her own.  But we managed all of that, even with Miss Mischief clocking up her learner-driver hours on the way down.

We had afternoon tea at the famous Vanilla Slice place - affectionately called a "snot block" by many Aussies.  I never understood that reference, but their vanilla slices were particularly good.  My warmed pear and almond cake was oh so delicious.  I realised afterwards I didn't get a photo of it!

We wandered down to the foreshore area and watched the Queenscliffe Ferry arrive, unload and head back out again.  Everyone headed out along a little teensy pier.  I did not.  I do not like piers so much that I would risk myself along a rickety-looking version, the floor of which is full of gaps and sea can be seen between the boards.  I like my piers solid, large and preferably with bitumen over the base!  Like the pier used for the ferry!  Dh came back and said this pier was barely standing and the railings wonky.  Miss Sunshine thought as long as it wasn't acting like a swinging bridge (her greatest fear) everything was fine.

Whenever country folk like us head down to the beach there is a mandatory fish-and-chips-by-the-beach dinner involved.  We had no picnic rugs so we put the back of the Land Cruiser down and sat there to enjoy the beachy view, and our dinner

And then we had some dinner guests arrive.  They were pretty determined too.  Not quite to the point of flying past us and into the car, but close.  They were certainly excited by the eventuality that we could not eat all of it!

After a long drive home we watched an episode of "The Newsroom" (we're into the final season, *sigh*) and headed to bed.

Perfect Sunday.

On Being Disconnected

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Life here Beyond My Picket Fence is at full tilt.  Things in the classroom are feeling more settled - for me, and for the kids.  My own kids are valiantly holding up the dinner end of the day like the complete and utter champions they are.  Despite being busy and tired and getting home later than I have ever done since.....well....ever, I am discovering there is one major downside to working full-time:  being disconnected from your people.

We had parent-teacher interviews for Miss Mischief the other night.  Year 12's have them earlier than everyone else, because they're nearly finished with their coursework for the year.  And as we sat with each of her teachers I realised how much I miss my tribe.  We had to catch up with each other before we could catch up about Miss Mischief.  I've missed that I can't just pop into the Library and chat with my very dear friend, who is the Library Tech.  And I can just have a spur-of-the-moment cuppa with my friend up the road, or have a quick five-minute chat in the car park after school.  And a weekday breakfast with my book club gals is now off the table.  I just feel a bit disconnected, and I'm not sure how to go about getting that back.  I desperately need my tribe.  They are my go-to people when things are great, and not great and everything in between.  They are the people we pop in on spontaneously when we have a couple of hours to kill.  The people we have dinner with.  The people we camp with.  The people we celebrate our family accomplishments with.  We all need a tribe to belong to.  We have had a period of time when we were practically tribe-less and it was a pretty lonely kind of place to be.

But how does one keep connected to their tribe when their days are full in a place that is away from their tribe?

Second Hand Magazine Gift...and then some

A friend at church handed me a big brown paper last week.

A stack of second hand magazines....all tied in a pretty bow
Chocolate
Biscuits (cookies)
Jarrah coffees
A note telling me to put my feet up

It made me think:  this is exactly 100% how second hand magazines should be handed on.  I was completely blown away by her thoughtfulness and the special added little things that made reading these so much more special.

Especially after my first week of working full time in over 19 years.  There weren't even any students yet and I was completely laid-out-exhausted by Thursday!  In a good kind of way.

A Good-Morning Surprise

I walked out my front door the other day and found my otherwise bare trees adorned with these precious little beauties.  Between three trees I counted 11 king parrots just resting and squawking a little.  A nice petite kind of squawk compared to the obnoxious sound that cockatoos make.  It was like they were saying "welcome to the day".  They just made me stop and marvel at how vivid their colours were, especially against the grey skies.  And then I had to take photos!

And The Shopping is DONE!!

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Today I completed all the necessary clothes shopping required to begin working next term…just three weeks away.  If you've read here even for a little while you will know what a relief and triumph it is for me to be able to say I'm DONE!  Can you say "excited"?!

It took quite some searching and frustration to find suit-style trousers.  No one seems to sell classic trousers suitable for a business (or more formal education) environment.  And when I did find them they were simply NOT cut for my shape.  No amount of being a different size was ever going to fix that problem!   Success eventually came from a corporate work-wear supplier.  Who you know sometimes just works better than what you know, and in this case a friend who works in a work-wear and embroidery place that supplies uniforms and the like was my clothing hero.  I walked in, tried on the pants I had found online (pictured above) that gave a description that sang my song, and I walked out with something that fit perfectly.  PERFECTLY!  Do you hear me?  This happens to me exactly NO TIMES!  Ever.  At the very least I have to make a little tuck in the back to deal with the gaping.  They were so perfect that  I have a second pair and a skirt on order.  So, so happy.  And it was just so easy.  Not like retail shopping at all.

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This afternoon I ordered some merino wool fine-knit tops from Wool Overs.  I'd never heard of them before, but after finding them (thank you Google!) a parent at school was singing their praises.  So I took the plunge and ordered.  Without trying them on….but the measurements online fit the merino top I bought last week.  And the prices were excellent.  And free shipping.

My little wardrobe capsule now consists of:

2 skirts
2 trousers
2 jackets
2 blouses
4 knit tops
1 dress shoes
1 pair knee-high boots

The knit tops are in the same colours as one of the blouses so I'm all set.  I'm about to go pick up some boots I needed to have re-soled.

And then no more shopping for a long time.  Happy dance anyone?

When Good Men invest in Good Young Men

How do men, across generations, spend the public holiday of a long weekend?  By rabbit hunting.  With the help of ferrets.

One of our pastors comes from up in the country, a couple of hours' drive from here.  His adult kids live on the farm he and his wife still own; his brother is up that way and so is his Dad.  So they have land.  And ferrets.  And rascally rabbits.  Something about the chase and the hunt and being all messy and loud and enjoying the great outdoors is appealing I guess.  Rabbit hunting seems to kill a few birds with one stone:  having fun, getting rid of pests, catching your own food.

You can't see it, because I am super thingy about privacy and safety and boring stuff like that, and because my new-to-me Mac has a cropping function, but Mr Busy has the biggest grin on his face, holding this cute-looking fluffy little ferret.  I see cute….I'm sure the men see "hunting tool".  But what I also see is my son having the time of his life with a whole bunch of really special Good Men.  His Dad, our Pastor and his son, brother and Dad.

These Good Men are investing far more into my son than a fun day doing manly, hunting stuff; more than giving my extroverted men somewhere to be, something to do and people to do it with.  They are investing into my son a whole bunch of important stuff about how to be a Good Young Man.  They are showing him some practical skills, sure.  But there will be laughter, bonding and encouragement.  They will model what it is to be a Good Man who respects other Good Men.  They will build him up, pour in and fill him up with being accepted and valued for who he is without expecting him to be someone he isn't.  He will get to feel like he's good at something and be mentored along the way when maybe he needs to learn a bit more.

I can't wait to hear stories from the day; the fun, the laughter, the successful catches.  But more than that I can't wait to see my son standing tall because some exceptional men showed him he is worth their time and their company.  I can't wait to see the self-belief and self-esteem that will grow because one significant man in my son's life thought enough of my son and my husband to organise a day doing some fun stuff together.

Things to make you laugh, or at least smile...

This text conversation from this morning is still making me laugh-out-loud every time I think about it.  And I am still shaking my head in dismayed disbelief.  Said family member needs a sock intervention!

These two things made me smile today:

1. First, I learnt how to take a screen shot on my phone.  Yes - I know you all knew how to do that already and I'm a dinosaur.  And...well, there's no excuse I guess.  Except I never needed or wanted to do this before.
2. Second - I finally figured out why I couldn't highlight and write notes in my Bible app on my phone.  You need to be signed in.  I finally signed in.  It must have signed out after an update?
3. Oh, third thing.  Because my iPad and phone are signed in to the same YouVersion account the highlights and notes sync automatically.

Are you wondering about the reason I had this text highlighted? 

In church yesterday our "God Stories" topic was about what happens when things don't go quite how you thought they would, even when you believed you were following what you thought God was telling you to do.  Haven't we all got a story on that topic?  I know I do!  And is not Job the absolute and highest example of that? 

Despite losing everything.  Every.  Thing.  Job chose to respond in worship and praise.   I'm pretty sure I don't do that.  No...I'm more of a David.  I pour forth questions and anguish and wring my hands in despair.  I may have even been known to head down the depression pathway once.  What Job did here, in acknowledging that God gives and God takes away, is to remind himself that God is still God, no matter what our circumstances would seem to tell us.  Even when it looks like God has left us hanging, or doesn't seem to be answering....or when the pathway you thought he had directed you down turns to dust.  Even then, God is still God and he has a reason for allowing things to occur in our lives.  He still deserves our worship and our praise because he is God.

You know what's really hard?  When you know with all of your being that something is true, but struggle to put that truth into practice in the every day.  And quite frankly, I don't really want a reason to put this into practice!  I'm content with hindsight.

Happy New Year...Dreams and Possibilities

Happy New Year!!!

Can you believe we are into a new year already?  It feels like 2014 started just three minutes ago and now all of a sudden here we are into 2015.

At the moment this year seems to stretch before me with no plans and no certainties.  While others have declared that to be an exciting adventure and assure me a teaching position will undoubtedly be forthcoming I'm not so certain about either proclamation. Anxious uncertainty seems to be a frequent visitor and that annoys me no end.  I'd much rather have some direction and be organising myself for the year ahead.  Having said that I do have somewhat of a laundry-list of things I'd love to do around the house....all of which requires an income which allows for space to save up for such things, but if I were to dream of the possibilities this is what I would do:

• Repaint the house, inside and out
• Re-varnish the floorboards
• Remove the half-wall between the meals and family room area.  It's a dumb, inconvenient thing!
• Redo the kids bathroom and toilet.  Tiles were made for these areas - not floating floorboards or plaster walls!
• Give the kitchen a facelift with a new facade and benchtop.  And switch the kitchen sink so it works in the opposite direction
• Put a wood heater insert into the fireplace

Lots of dreams and possibilities there.  Mostly though, I'm dreaming of teaching in my own classroom.

Any dreams and possibilities in your outlook?