Friday blog review: Slow your home

As I look through Brooke's writing on Slow your home I find that her story is very similar to mine, and I feel a connection (again I'm amazed at how similar we all are - that separation really is a state of mind, not a reality).

I read further and find that I like her no-nonsense approach and the way every post is designed to give the reader helpful information. In particular I like her budgeting posts because I still need convincing that budgeting is something I can enjoy. I am intrigued to know what she will write here and continue to read through all three of her posts on this topic.

I read even further...hmmm, 2013 in 2013, what could that mean? I scroll further...I see - its a challenge to de-clutter and de-own 2013 items this year - nice! I like this train of thought and read the advice on what to de-clutter this month:

"May is the month of entertaining - kitchen and dining room".

Actually that's where I was thinking of decluttering today if I get time. This site is fun. Its end of May, yes, but if I declutter a little I know I'll feel good.

Off to the dresser for some decluttering methinks....

Coming home to work

There was a time for me, not so long ago, when work meant something academically and intellectually stimulating in a location that was excitingly-far from home. And home was just the place that I hung out in between days at work, parties and exercising. Housework was a bad word in those days and I found no joy in doing those things that made our house a home. I wanted to be out and about, free from the constraints of doing the mundane in a house (because that didn't feel important to the world).
But then I had my two daughters, developed post-natal depression after each, left my teaching job on stress-leave and found myself only able to function at home, which led to further stress and a disjunction between my ideas about valuable work and what I was able to do. I felt useless.

Most of that was a few years ago now, and after some treatment for PND and a lot of re-thinking about the importance of things, I'm realising the joy I get from coming home to work. I've found ways to love washing the dishes (yes, I really love it, not just tolerate it), I make my own laundry powder and this empowers me each time I wash clothes and of course I love slow cooking stews and soups with homegrown veggies, knitting for my girls and looking after our chickens and guinea pigs. Life has slowed down a lot and I feel like a whole person now.
Wendyl Nissen talks about coming home to work in her book A Home Companion (one of my favourites) from a high powered career.

"So I came home to work and discovered the ancient art of nurturing and somewhere along the way harnessed a goddess or two I found lurking inside"

I've been reading similar stories since. Perhaps its something that's more appealing to me now that I'm a parent, but nevertheless, there seems to be a movement back toward working at home, working from home and most importantly, making home the main focus of your work.

Recently my lovely Mother sent me an email of a story from the Simple Savings forum about the importance of home:

"What place do you dream of creating that speaks of these things, what books live there, what hot drinks are favourites in your home, do you have a snuggery? Does your home smell good? Is it clean? Is the crockpot simmering with good things?

Happy homes lovely people.

Small town sharing

Mount Beauty is one of those wonderful, perhaps rare, places where there is a strong sense of community, where there is a lot of sharing between residents and where newcomers are welcomed with open arms.
I was reading recently a blog post by Brooke of Slow your home about sharing more and buying less and I thought this really applies to Mount Beauty.
Let me paint you a picture of our lovely little town:
- we have a community run toy library and playgroup where toys and activities are shared between parents
- regular swapping of unwanted items occurs between friends and through freecycle.org
- unwanted items are advertised in the supermarket or left out the front of houses for others to collect
- the local op shop is one of the most successful businesses in our small town
- leaves are collected from around the town in Autumn by locals to put onto their gardens
- coffee grounds from the bakery are given away for people's gardens
- left over bread from the bakery is available for feeding to animals
- local excess blueberries and eggs are available for purchase (low food miles)
- many of our friends share children's clothing, particularly children's ski clothing and gear
Mount Beauty is lucky to boast a well-established culture of sharing.

Where I'm at right now...

I've been off sugar for 8 weeks now and in doing so have completed Sarah Wilson's I quit sugar program. I'm pleased with how I've gone and surprised to discover that I'm really not that excited by sugar anymore. To some extent I'm actually (dare I say it) bored with donuts, chocolate and caramel croissants. I have, however, found some sugar sneaking into my diet recently. Its like I've taken my foot off the gas, am coasting along, and suddenly I'm not quite heading in the direction I wanted to be.
So I'm finding myself re-evaluating my food choices overall - what's important and why, and how to make it practical too.  I saw a banner for Nourish Melbourne recently and liked its quote:
 "Its Simple: Don't eat food that's been f*#cked with" - this is where I'm heading right now. More about my 'real food' journey to come.
In addition to all this I find myself in a happy place right now. I'm spending plenty of time in my sunshiny garden with the girls, our chickens and our veggies. I smile as I hear Rosie and Bethany playing and laughing together on the trampoline.

Life is good.

xhxo s -. L;'

Friday blog review: Simple Mom

I love this blog and the way it focusses on giving to yourself so that you can give to others, primarily your own children. Simple Mom: live intentionally says Tsh, the creator. I love this message and want to know more.

As I scroll through I see her recommended reading list and take a look - wow! Great books here with a heartfelt review of each and why she's found them important. I'll need to get a couple of those I think. Then I see a lovely quote about reading from C.S. Lewis:

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me"

I like that.

I look further, intrigued by Tsh and her message, and more particularly how she came to write a blog about living simply. I find her list of her favourite posts and read through these to get to know her site more. I discover that she has had depression like me and I feel a further connection to her and her message. I really like her post on The beauty of living...slowly and ponder whether I'm too busy and need to take stock (again) of where I'm at and whether it suits me.

I also like her post titled A public school parent's guide to learning at home - this is exactly where I'm at right now and feel relieved that someone else is in the place I'm in. I really like her quote about what we can do as parents, even if our children go to school:

"Continuing to build a home where learning is nurtured and valued is one of the best ways we can equip our children for life after graduation".

I see a list of downloads available for free, created by Tsh, to help simplify your day, week, life... And I like free-stuff, so this makes me feel supported and kind of special. It also makes me think about the purpose of a blog - is it for me or is it for others? Tsh shows me that I can give stuff away, freely, without ties or expectations. That is something for me to think about. I also notice that Simple Mom is an online community, not a company or marketing gimmick, it invites others with similar interests to join in and contribute.

Family

And so it was with sadness that we said goodbye last weekend to our family visitors. After 5 days of fun, excitement and it must be said, two very determined and independent girls, the time came for us to go our separate ways back to our everyday lives.
Rosie and her cousin Elsa managed to squeeze in a few more runs through the Autumn leaves before Elsa returned to the relative heat of Perth and sister Cath and I managed a quick walk together without kids in between school assemblies, a dinner out and my work at the Mount Beauty Bakery. It was a busy few days but sooo worth it to catch up with my loved ones in person. Thank-you so much Cath, Elsa and Mum for making the effort to visit us! You are in our hearts despite the distance that now separates us.
Love and peace....

Give me the simple life

"Give me the simple life: how to pare back, power down and relish the good stuff" says the headline in a newspaper I saw a couple of weeks ago.
Isn't this what we all need to aim for? I certainly think so. Don't we all want the 'good stuff' and perhaps we think its in having more 'things', but its really about relishing the good we have, putting our attention on it so it grows.
This is something I think about quite a lot, so I'm making a new label for this blog - 'slow living'. So in this article there were interviews with several bloggers focussed on living a simple, slowed-down life and over the coming weeks I'll review each of them here, for my own sake and for each of you reading this.
My first review is about Simple Mom - a blog aimed at simplifying parenting in order to share more quality time with your children and family, and this certainly rings true to my heart.
This is what its really all about for me - I don't want to wait for 'retirement' to slow down. I want to live a slow, deliberate, mindful life now, so that I may enjoy my life and give the most to myself, my children, my family and others as much as I can.

Enjoy

Playing the day away

My current favourite quote - it helps me to focus on the important things.

I love it when family come to visit. This week we have the pleasure of hosting my sister Cath and her daughter Elsa, and my Mum for the coming weekend too.
Yesterday was a rainy day of play for Rosie and her cousin, with Bethany tagging along, while little sis' and I attempted to catch up and cook warming meals.

 

Again I am reminded that the bonds of family can be strong despite distance as Cath and I just picked up where we left off last time we were face-to-face.

And now we experience, too, the joy of our daughters looking forward to meeting again. And for these girls, the strength of their play is their forte and the way they naturally learn.

 

 I am reminded of a another quote, this one by Charles Schaefer:

"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing".

I think this applies to all of us, young and older, don't you think?

Autumn Beauty

I love the way Mount Beauty is surrounded by colourful, deciduous foliage at this time of year.
I love the colours in Autumn that light up the streets and colour the view from our front window.
I love the dry crunch underfoot of a carpet of leaves as I walk from playgroup to the bakery with my daughters.

I love a cool Autumn bike ride with my loved ones alongside the river.

 

I love the first lighting of the fire and the crickle crackle of that carefully harvested wood.

I love watching my girls run through the piles of dry leaves around our small town and throw them up in the air to fall as snow.

I love the pumpkin soups that are made as our pumpkins ripen and the days grow colder.

And I love the knitting that is inspired by the cold hands and bodies we have at this time of year.

This is Autumn in Mount Beauty for me.



Feel-good Laundry Powder

I've made this a few times now, first as a liquid and now as a powder, which is much less time consuming but still effective in the wash. Of course it takes more time than buying a packet of pre-made laundry powder from the shops but I'm not interested in saving time anymore (what am I saving it for?), I'm much more interested in living each moment with meaning and deliberate intent. Making my own laundry powder connects me with one of the larger jobs at home in an organic, authentic way. I feel that I am doing good, being creative AND cleaning my families clothing all at the same time. And that feels good.

Here is my 'Feel-good Laundry Powder' recipe:

2 x bars vegetable-based soap
1 tub Borax
1 cup bicarbonate soda
1 pkt washing soda

Grate the soap bars then mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into a large glass jar or two for storage. I usually choose two different soaps and make a double batch in two different jars.
The mixture can separate a little as its poured out - just shake it up before you use it and I find it works out fine.

Happy Washing!

Happy Mama's Day

I know some of you are having special meals made, going to high teas and going on family outings and I wish you a beautiful time with your loved ones.
For me? I think the beauty of Mother's Day is the impetus to pause and reflect on myself as a Mum - to really seek out the positives about my mothering and my relationship with my girls and husband. For as Mothers I think we're all doing our best, whatever that is at the time, but find ourselves wishing we could be better sometimes, perhaps being too critical of ourselves.
So today, for me, is a day to put that critical voice aside and really celebrate what I am doing - loving our children, building our home and life together and learning and growing.
To all those Mamas in the world that we hold dear to our hearts, we wish you a lovely day.

Goldilocks and the housewarming party

One of the things I really love about Mount Beauty is the closeness of the people here. New families are welcomed with open arms, almost like extended family themselves. I guess Mount Beauty is a small town so people here share a bond in their desire to be in this special place.
We have met many, many likeminded families since our move here four years ago and are still delighted to be sharing our time with them in the outdoors, in our homes andd with our children.
And so it was that our family of four found ourselves at a very fun housewarming party one lazy Saturday afternoon recently where costumes matched the '70's carpet and I found myself in a gold wig quoting Shakespeare (badly). Ahem.

Chickens in the sun

Our new chickens; Pippi, Poppy and Henny Penny have been released into their new pen, much to their delight. We have observed with excitement their scratching, dust-bathing and general happiness in the sunshine.
It feels good to have chicken who free-range in green grass under fruit trees.
We look forward to more eggs and planting more fruit trees in our mini chicken orchard in the next few weeks.
Ps. Photos taken by Rosie :-)

Slowing life down

So often I'm rushing about. Sometimes this is an obvious 'OMG we're going to be late for that train, we'd better hurry'. But more often its a subtle state of mind where I find myself thinking almost-subconscious thoughts that rush life past me.
For example, I routinely think ''there's not enough time', 'hurry up Mama' and 'if I just get this done then everything will be okay'. And this last one is the classic one that sneaks up on me. So much so that sometimes just being at home can be overwhelming just because there's always 'just one more thing' to get done.
Often I read about the need to stop buying more 'stuff' to make yourself happy. But I want to add to this; 'I need to stop getting stuff done to make myself happy'. Sure there's work that needs doing, but letting it drive my life is like letting a giant vacuum cleaner be in charge (although I admit the carpet would be cleaner) - always sucking away creativity and open-minded ness.
What I want to focus on is taking a deep breath and being still.
Just still.



...and allowing myself to be happy with where I am now.

I quit sugar week 4

"eat to live, don't live to eat"

Three and a half weeks into quitting sugar and I'm feeling quite good. My physical cravings for sugar have gone but my emotional attachment to it is taking longer to release its hold on me.
In the meantime I've been thinking more about the quote above and how it relates to me. I can see that life would be simpler and slower if I only ate to live - eating would be a simple affair, no treats or emotional attachment. It seems like a far off Eutopia but perhaps life would be sweeter there.